Perishable Wings: Disciple of Dissent
by Ou-Rex
Summary: And the seeds of a new generation spread. To stifle the life is to stifle change. Forever we have been stuck here, untouched by nature, hidden in out stone and metal boxes that spear the skies and scar the earth. With this change, came their evolution.
1. Prince of Flowers

**(A/N: Welcome, and prepare yourselves. Those who have and have not followed the first halves know what to expect. This is not a sunshine and cupcake fic. There is no comedy, nothing of the sort. It's a creepy, fiend fest the entire ride. Enjoy!)**

**Chapter 1: Prince of Flowers**

It was nameless. No, rather- it could not be described, let alone named. It was said to be a sickly green, a spawn of a kami, kin of stars. Writhing coils of a squid's form, cloven flesh of sinew that carried a slushy nastiness which was loathed in the dreams of those that did not take claim to his insanity. It crossed the seas of which it was said to live and would travel from port to port spreading the word of his cult. Upon this massive, nameless form, rode the Ouhana and his family. Upon the the vines and roots crawled its minions. Hanabake from all corners of the earth. With every step upon land the nameless one would leave its seed, and take that of another. Those who sought to fight against them would never see it upon them until it was too late. There were still many that stood agaisnt the ideals of the Ouhana.

These outsiders, these dissenting masses were simply known as _Aitsura toutei hojiru eimin nai Shinigami-sama_. The Athens were a misguided group that could not see the eternal greatness that sat among the kami of life and death, Ouhana: King of Flowers. Demons now roamed the earth among humans, no longer having a place to go. Roots of the nameless one dug across the world, burying beneath stone, earth, and realms. The roots destroyed what little already stabilized the pillars of magic then held together the three great barriers of the North, East and West Youkai worlds. The East was controlled by the Shuzen family, who had since pulled away from the rule of the three Great Dark Lords which resided over the three kingdoms, knowing well what they had wrought upon all living, sentient, kind. The Northern Kingdom of the Shirayuki clan, which held ties to various northern clans of Kitsune, Wolf, and Ryu, still blindly obeyed the rule that had held place for thousands of years, not believing the truth before their eyes.

Twas an illusion, they proclaimed. Twas but man finally destroying himself and setting the lands ablaze for when Youkai would return. Where the Western Tribes, ruled by the Kurono clan, or by their Western title: Rulers of Darkness, Stood neutral on the matter, seeing no true proof one way or the other. When the time came they would side with the victors.

To those that knew of the Suisen Hanabake, of the most common of them, would come to displacement when they were seen to be, in reality, Lent Hanabake, a wilder more deadly version. Suisen were large, green hanabake that carried blossoms of yellow around their necks, reminiscent of lions. They moved like these great predators they were often mistaken for and were open area hunters that did best taking down prey in the open, how? They did not hunt human. In fact many of the new strains of Hanabake no longer needed to feed on the blood of man. Only one hanabake was still known as a man-eater: Chinjunokami, or Samhain as she was known to Tsukune. Upon the nameless one's arrival on land the red-fleshed hanabake would be offered a willing sacrifice. To be a marked as a sacrifice to the red-fleshed one known as Chinjunokami, was sacred.

The Suisen preyed on the larger prey animals that began to over populate the lands. Suisen were often take in by human tribes to help bring in food, where as the more dangerous Lent hanabake would not think twice about killing a human that would try and subjugate it. More and more strains of hanabake would be spread. The most common and prolific of them was the Chimera hanabake which was a strain that was born from the nameless one. It was born of the named _Bracken _orbs of gourds that lined its form. The largest _Bracken_ laid undisturbed. It had never hatched, but seemed as alive as ever.

Across the world word was spread of the _good_ Tsukune did for the world. No the non-believers were not shunned, but taught. Upon the lands walked the Ouhana's only disciple.

Follow me and look to your fellow man.

These are the words of the Ouhana.

_Regret the wrong of your past._

He only wishes for us to repent.

_I too suffer, so you are not alone._

He is always by our side.

_Become a student, and learn from the past._

Just as I, Kaneshiro Hokuto.

_Take your brother's hand and step into the darkness._

Together.

_Hand in hand._

These were the disciple's greatest speech. The former co-head of Fairy Tale now followed the will of the Ouhana. Shuzen had thought he could trust him, but it seemed he would have to rely on his daughters. Many times had the Athens tried to assassinate Kaneshiro, but- according to followers, he was protected by the grace of the Ouhana. He was followed by a pair of Suisen Hanabake and today was to land at the port of the former great city of Tokyo upon the back of the nameless one, for today was a grand day.

The son of the Ouhana would be presented to the people. A mere two weeks old, he was a miracle. A child born to its people. This time Shuzen received aid from Mikogami who offered his greater fighter. They have learned that even though the hanabake were formidable, Kaneshiro's hybrid form was a force to be reckoned with. Shuzen stood within, what could be considered, as a mobile fortress. No place was safe from the hanabake for too long. Youkai had a higher resistant to the spores, but hybrids and humans were not so lucky. Shuzen, with the help of the Dark Lord of the Eastern territories, his lover and greatest ally, he developed a system of underground passages which used what remained of the Japanese underground rail systems to use. Using the ventilation systems it was simple enough to keep the spores out from underground, but that meant keeping them in constant repair, and that meant finding human and youkai capable of doing as such. Shuzen had strong self preservation, and had no qualms about employing humans to further his goal.

He wanted the Ouhana dead. A life for a life.

The old vampire lord sat in the back of one of the train cars suited to him, the lines would carry them all the way to Tokyo just in time for the Kami Prince's coronation ceremony. Kaneshiro was held as a high priest in their twisted community and were he to bless the fetid child than they would have innocent blood on their hands, for no child was born evil... at least that was their belief.

"You understand what you have to do Morioka?" The old lord questioned as he looked up from a book. There was little else to do. No newspapers, no other means of fighting to insanity of a still world. The youkai and humans that walked and worked along the train had their misgivings about each other, but they all had the common will to survive and never bow their heads to a cruel, false kami such as the Ouhana.

Morioka Ginei, or otherwise known as Gin, had witnessed the first hanabake attacks and watched Kurakama go down in flames. He had thought the situation under control until his senpai, Otonashi Sun, had called him in panic. It had been the first time in many years he has heard her speak. He knew something was wrong. He rushed to her side. Marin had been attacked by a pair of youkai, only to be saved by hanabake and supposedly, the kami himself. So was the kami evil, or not? He would use this chance to find out for even Mikogami knew not of what to make of the 'kami's' aura.

Mikogami was who everyone turned to. He could see what had yet to be, and though he could not stop Fate from changing, he could brush it along. "No worries." Gin assured with a lazy wave of his hand. Kaneshiro was more a danger to the public than the Ouhana himself. The Ouhana never directly influenced lives and more influenced the environment than anything, they had come to notice. Kaneshiro spread the poison of what Athens were calling a _cult._ Kaneshiro created sects and would personally appoint leaders to follow the laws of the Ouhana's will.

_One should never take the life of another, unless one needs to eat its flesh. _The Ouhana would command, according to Kaneshiro. _To look down on the earth is to look down on the gift Hanabake offer!_ For many hanabake strains from more temperate areas produced fruits, the only remaining food source for humans for other flowering plants and fruiting plants were all but destroyed by the invasive hanabake and changing seasons._ If you are killed by a Hanabake, you are a sinner, if you are saved by one it is the kami's grace_! This was Kaneshiro's personal belief.

Without the Ouhana he would have never felt this. The spores were a means for the colony to communicate, to speak, to be. The stream of consciousness was enough to knock the male out the first time. So many voices, so much feeling. He could touch the heart of his neighbor without being there. He could feel the earth without touching it. Kaneshiro had never felt such closeness. The thoughts of the Ouhana was clear once his mind was washed from the sins of his past. The nameless one would soon be upon land.

Upon his throne of thorns, the Ouhana sat with his lover at his feet, and the fetid corpse of the women who once loved him: guarding his very existence and in his arm lay wrapped the sleeping form of the young prince of flowers. The nameless one came upon the lands. To their knees fell the worshipers of kami. The beast let out a roar of an indiscernible sound that would churn the bellies of those still sane. The great, nameless, plant that carried upon his back kami bowed his head at the back of the prophet. There stood Kaneshiro with his arms spread out as he called the sermon to order. Here they would anoint the young prince, son of kami, ruler of this world.

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**(A/N: Translation: **They who can no way dedicate eternal slumber to the death god. **)**


	2. Dissent

**Chapter 2: Dissent**

The mighty plant beast rose over the waters of Tokyo Bay and crossed onto land. News had been carried word-of-mouth. Tsukune sat enthroned on its back like a king. In his arm he carried his son, only a few weeks old and eyes already open to the world. A day had been allowed to pass as the nameless one slept in the ocean, the only thing in view was the surface of its back, where stood to be the place where no living being has ever come to touch: the proclaimed altar of the Ouhana. He wore simple clothing, which consisted of nothing more than a white shirt, black jeans and his cloak which kept him warm in the cool weathers that now enveloped the island country of Japan.

He was leaned back against his throne of vines. The gnarled structure was where the male slept, ate, and all but lived with his lover. Ruby sat knelt at his side, the infant sound asleep in his father's arms. The shrieks and shrills of the hanabake were commonplace and the babe took no heed to their vile, spine tingling sounds. The corpse warrior, composed of mismatched parts of what remained of the vampire and succubus of a former life, stood as its nude, decrepit flesh would stretch and flex with every motion. Tsukune had taken the time to clean and scrub her body down, Ruby doing her best to please her lover and keep the skin from completely rotting off by using transmutation magic, which took its toll on the witch's body and mana. She was oft left bed-ridden for days, but it was worth it for her master and lover.

Hokuto stood on the ground, knee to the vine covered concrete of the former metropolitan bay. A massive crowd had gathered hearing their lord and god would be arriving at the bay to introduce them to the flower prince. Not just true believers would come, but non believers too had crawled from their squalor lifestyle, intrigued by this man, of whom they had never seen, but always knew _of._ Hokuto was a master orator for he believed, with all his heart in the kami's message: destroy those who would destroy you. It was only right after all. If they could not respect life then they did not deserve to live. This ideal was tempting to many who struggled to survive, and those lucky enough to resist the power the spores had over the weaker minded folk. Hokuto stood and the kami's loyal subjects stayed to the ground. The non believers were instantly weeded out in their disrespect.

"My lord!" Hokuto raised his hand as if he wished to be reached for. The Suisen hanabake at Hokuto's side roared out in praising glory to the one they owe their lives to. Samhain had created several new strains and unlike the Sunflower Hanabake, the newer strains were more obedient to to her, and in turn to Tsukune. The witch did not mind, for it allowed her to concentrate her magicks into something other than controlling the _heart_ which was necessary to keep them loyal to the witch, a sort of contract, much like the wings she has with her Familiar Satoru. Upon her master's request she gave the _heart_ to the red hanabake, who had taken it away and vanished into the innards of the Nameless One. The Nameless One worked much as a hive did. Its body, which smelled of rotting plant matter, carried the spores that fed all humans the _spirit _of the Hanabake and Samhain's will, but also did it carry fertile grounds in which to grow and tend to various strains of hanabake.

Tsukune glanced over to Ruby. She wore her precious, pink corset and floor length skirt. When one considered her questionable obsession with pain, one would never think the woman to dress as she did, but she was a very conservative, gentle witch whose spirit was easily broken, and so it was. The scars on her back, as Tsukune once told her in the heat of their passion, it was as if an angel had broken her wings and fallen into his grace. There had been no truer words spoken. Her wings were torn from her back as if she was worth no more than a fly. She was beaten, both physically and mentally, and only sought praise. The only way to escape the pain was to take it. It was her only reward, her only means of knowing she was still alive. When Tsukune's nails raked her back, or his hand struck the softer mounds of pale, tortured skin on her body it was like opening the doors of heaven. She was no longer upon the hell that constantly consumed her mind and soul. The witch only slept after being _rewarded _by her lover, and not always would it mean sexual relief. Sometimes, for the ebony haired witch, it was enough knowing she was still alive, and had tomorrow to look forward to.

Ruby stood to her feet. Her arms still carried the fresh nail marks along her shoulders of their most recent session, which most certainly involved heated sexual passion. Her hair would rain over the marks when she removed the band of ribbon that bound her hair. The listless eyes of the corpse of her former rivals watched as she sauntered passed, those heels raking a retching clapping noise that burned their senses. Samhain was no where to be seen. Earlier in the morn, when the Nameless One rose from the sea, the red-fleshed hanabake retreated into the intricate tunnels of vines and roots toward the lower sects of its flesh, but even still its twists of red cords were stabbed into the shoulders of their bound corpses. Samhain fed her youki into the soldier of flesh and could easily see what it did. The witch raised her hand, a sleeve of black silk wrapped around her arm, tearing at certain places from age and wear, often times due to the powerful castings she would control bare-handed.

Hokuto nodded at the command and turned to face the people as he climbed upon his platform so he could look down on the people and stand above them. "My brothers, my sisters!" The kami's closest disciple would rise his voice above the howls of praise. The Suisen Hanabake stood at their owner's side and roared out. They leapt off the platform and ran around the crowd as of corralling them like the sheep they were. The people quickly settled. The Suisen pair kept the crowd under control while Hokuto spoke. "Behold! The Ouhana has given you a son!" For everything the Ouhana did it was for the people. The hanabake killed sinners, and the blood of the innocent would not feed hanabake as well as the blood of the corrupted. Such was their world. Tsukune stood from his seat. Ruby turned to the sound of his steps and lowered to her knees, or at least tried. Tsukune took her arm firmly in his hand. Her mauve eyes turned to his copper ones. His smile was kind, gentle, forgiving.

"This is _our _child." He softly spoke. Ruby understood. She would nod and allow him to lead her toward the edge of the Nameless One. The crowed cried out in praise. The sound could only be compared to a baying dog when its leg had been broken and torn to shreds after it had been run over by a truck. Those who did not, would not, nor could not stand to believe in this _false _god would sneer and jeer, trying to raise their voices above those who were the majority. They were but a voiceless minority who would never be able to stand against such power, but one would try. His heart was heavy. He had traveled far from his home to meet this kami. It was perhaps his last and only hope in this world. This man had lost his son to the devastation of the greater cities. The non believer had been stricken with pain, for it was he who had encouraged his son to travel to the big city, but when his eyes came upon the kami his heart was filled with unbridled ire. He had traveled here in hopes to rid his wife of the pain and devastation she had been forced to face. They barely survived on the outskirts of what was once a beautiful, small neighborhood. It was now overgrown with vegetation and the water was unsafe to drink, and the food unsafe to eat.

No he wanted to believe this _thing _could help him, but looking upon his face he had come to realize it had been the Ouhana all along. It was _**he **_who took his only son away. Hokuto dropped down on his knee before standing and turning to face the crowd once more.

"Our lord has spoken!" The disciple cried out, raising a fist to the air. "To you, his people, he gives you a son!" The crowed cheered. "To you, his people, you are to name his son!" Silence followed. To be humbled by the great Ouhana so?

The man could only watch in anger as this so-called kami abused his power, his stance, and everything he had ever been given in this life, only to squander it for another! The man pushed through he crowd, toward the front where the Suisen paced. "Akuma!" He shouted in rage. "Vile, unfit child born from a demon! Akuma is the only name it should carry!" His voice carried over that silence with ease. The Suisen opened the flower that circled their necks. The bright yellow frills were dotted with red and were intimidating, as were the rows of fangs that filled their mouths. Hokuto turned his dark eyes to the male, the wire-frame glasses falling down his nose. With a gentle, purposeful motion he pushed them back. He raised his hand and snapped his fingers. The Suisen look to their comrade, and with the command given, they lunged.

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**(A/N: Beta'd by GrrDraxin**

**Akuma: Devil)**


	3. Accountability of Death

**Chapter 3: Accountability of Death**

Tsukune stood in silence as he watched Hokuto pin the outspoken man, down. Non-believers swore he had a death wish. No matter how much they hated that beast, or wanted the kami to be slain, without him they would have no food, or homes, or lives for the hanabake grew the food, killed the unclean. Everyone was too scared to stand up against him, even now: this man was brutally slammed to the ground by the ayashi and no one stood up to defend him. The Survivors, as they were called due to the fact they survived what was essentially Armageddon, would praise their kami and accuse the man of serving his own death.

"Hokuto." Tsukune's voice was calm, even, almost regretful to the man's plight. "I asked, I truly did." He humbly accepted, smiling warmly. "If that is what he wishes what I name my son, than so be it." Those watching were flabbergasted. They knew not what to say. Was he truly so humble, benevolent? The Ouhana never once called for the death of another, nor did he act or speak cruelly. He never called himself a kami, to the fact: only those around him did.

Hokuto stood with his knee pressed against the man's back. The pained man sobbed pitifully. "What have you done with my son you monsters?" The ebony eyed man looked up to Tsukune, and groaned out when Hokuto forcefully gripped his hair and shoved his face into the dirt. After several, agonizing, seconds, he was pulled from his punishment. The disciple held the man's head so he looked up to Tsukune from the ground. It was a painful action that, if any harder, would break the man's back from the force of reverse pull. His dark eyes, and dirt smeared face looked upon the Ouhana.

The deity's hair was now shoulder length, neatly combed and pulled back by the efforts of his lover. He wore the cloak given to him by her, which he treasured dearly. He wore a black, long-sleeved dress shirt that always sat unbuttoned, beneath a white tee-shirt. His pants were loose, white sweats and his feet were snuggly settled in a pair of straw sandals. Ruby looked to Tsukune, her mauve eyes glittering with the need to hear his commands. Sometimes Hokuto was jealous of the witch's position. She was able to see his lord and savior in his most intimate moments, but what were they like? No one knew what it was like upon the Nameless One and what went on in there. It was a sanctuary for the kami, a forbidden grounds that none were allowed to tread. Tsukune nodded to Ruby, a warm smile upon his face.

Ruby stepped forward, her arms crossed humbly before her. Tsukune cradled their sleeping child in his arms. He had thick, black hair and seemed unfazed by the noise and chaos around him. Ruby deeply bowed and rose. She looked to Hokuto. "Take him to work." Hokuto looked at her in question. "Take him to the presses, we will teach him." Her words were strong, steadfast in authority. Hokuto smirked and released the man's hair, allowing his face to slam to the ground. The noise of the worshipers became noise in the background. The disciple stood and reached down to grab the bruised, tattered man's shirt and force him to his feet.

"Why Tsukune?" The man shrieked out in agony, his voice cracking as he struggled in the ayashi's grip: kicking and flailing. "Your mother has hoped..." His voice faded. "Prayed." Aono Kouji looked up to his son, eyes pleading. He had to watch as Kasumi, his wife and Tsukune's mother, slowly went insane during the events. The mother had cried herself to sleep everyday since the incident at Kamakura. Kouji of course felt the brunt of the pain for he had been the one to suggest the school in the first place. His mother had never wanted her son to be so far, but she had agreed with her husband, and Kasumi had not allowed Kouji to forget how he had forced her hand in the decision. She reminded him everyday, only to regretfully sob afterwards. There was nothing he could do.

Things grew worse. They were just a prefecture away from the rampant destruction and were some of the first towns to go down under the brushstorm of hanabake. The land was turned worthless by the burrowing demon plants and water sources destroyed by their sickening pollen. What was worse of all, Kasumi held no resistance to the infectious spores. She would be driven insane by worry, but when she was fully taken by the hanabake's desires she had begun to claim she knew where her son had gone. That had been a few months after the first year. Kouji could only agree with his beloved wife and promise he would find their son, but never would he have expected this.

The former businessman, former employee of the Fairy Tale construction bureau, he had been on the ladder up, finally able to buy out the empty lands in Kamakura from the superstitious owners who would swear ghosts walked the fields of flowers. Once construction was done he would have been able to move to Kamakura with his family and offer them a better life in a bigger city, but it was not to come to fruition. His own son... the realization had only just dawned on him: Tsukune had been the cause. Kouji had left the comfort of his home with his mentally distraught wife and traveled through the carnage that littered all of Japan, and from what he could only hear from the few still existing forms of media: the world as well.

He had nearly lost hope, but he had made a promise to Kasumi. He had heard that the Kami would arrive in Tokyo, the disciple of his printed sheets of information concerning the plant lord, so no one was ever ignorant of his presence. The ayashi always pushed the absolute presence of his lord upon others, many of which seemingly accepted it. Kouji would follow his last hope, leaving his wife in the care of his only remaining, living relative: his brother and his family. _Why? How? _But those questions could come after he had his answer. This kami knew everything, and were it a true god than it would know where his only son was...was he gone to the hanabake's feverish conquest of the man-filled world, which now was a paradise for demons of all sorts? Or had he survived as many were lucky, or perhaps unlucky, enough?

Tsukune stared at the man, who was nothing more than stranger to him now. "I thought you would be proud..." Tsukune spoke gently. "I finally became _something,_ and can be happy, unselfishly." The young man turned his back, son in arm, and walked away. Ruby nodded to Hokuto, who laughed darkly. The ayashi turned to the worshipers as Ruby followed her lover into the Nameless One's form. The light-haired disciple held Kouji off the ground as if he were a piece of meat to be inspected.

"Behold!" He offered to the men and women that filled the air with the rancor of praise. "The mercy of kami!" The cries raised into the air and swam out into Tokyo Bay.

The Ouhana grew more powerful by the day, and now with a son, as it was passed along: by the name of Akuma, he would be unstoppable.

The fetid corpse watched with blank expression. The vines, which belonged to the ill-present Samhain, fed youki into the creature to allow it stagnant motion. It turned to watch as the man was dragged away kicking and screaming. Her rotting eyeball turned slightly, but limply weighed against her eyelid. Soon she would not need this body. She would sway at the thought, her hanging arms crackling with youki before the undead beast turned and scuffled along the same path her master and her master's lover had followed.

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**(A/N: Beta'd by GrrDraxin)**


	4. Devil's Apprentice

**Chapter 4: Devil's Apprentice**

It has been days since Kouji has been sent to work. The Prophet Hokuto has sent the human male, that was acclaimed to be the father of the kami, was forced to work in the printing offices located on the border of the demon and human world by the tunnel portal. The bus, that seemingly was but a myth, still carries passengers between worlds. The printing shop was an investment of Hokuto's. It uses hanabake oils and secretions to make ink and lubricant for the machines to run. The printing presses run pamphlets the prophet uses to brainwash the public capable of basic learning. Hokuto was jealous. He knew that the man that ran the printing shop was cruel. Hokuto wanted to be the one closest to kami so sent the human male to work in the heavily ayashi and youkai habited shop. Kouji's lungs could not handle the thick air of plant matter that suffocated the shop and had grown sick as spores, which could not infect his body, took up residence in his lungs being so heavily exposed.

The shop itself was rather small and the thin, badly ventilated halls were cause for the spores to line every corner. Some of these corners large pollen covered hives were constructed by small hanabake known as Churippu. They were small yellow hanabake that had bulb-shaped bodies. Their backsides opened up like a blossoming tulip where their stamen were thickly coated with a yellow pollen that stuck to anything it came into contact with. Typically, the sweet smelling pollen fluffs, were harmless, but when burned; as they sometimes would accidentally come into contact with the furnace. The smell it released was often sickening to most creatures and the dust of the burned pollen was easily inhaled. The pollen, when wet and moistened, would stick to a surface and harden, which the Churippu often made their nests of to protect them from the more predatory Suisen Hanabake that often roamed the halls like the dogs they were.

Kouji was carrying a stack of papers toward the cutting and print room, when he was shoved by a neighboring youkai. While they laughed as the older human male collapsed, another figure, the head of the shop, strode in. "Fools!" He bellowed. "Get back to work!" The ayashi and youkai scurried away. Kouji fell to his knees, gripping his chest as he violently coughed. The large, white-haired male snarled.

The boss of the press stood about six even, and had blonde, almost silver hair which ran down to the middle of his back. He wore a dark uniform and had strange marks along his brow line. When Kouji did not return to work on command the youkai boss stalked forward: his black dress shoes clapped against the marble floors. "I said get back to work, human scum!" The boss roared as he grabbed Kouji and pulled him off the ground by the collar of his shirt. The human hacked and coughed, blood raining from his mouth. The man snarled and looked to his white shirt, which peeked from the open collar of his black jacket.

"Human scum. I don't care if the rumors of your origin are true. You are nothing and weak, just like the rest of these pollen sucking freaks!" The male slammed Kouji to the ground and kicked the already pained man. "You want to really be incapable of work?" The youkai himself was a pure blood so was not affected by the poison, but he was still affected by the state of power, but what better place for an egomaniac such as he than a place of power over other ayashi and youkai at the foot of a god?

The other workers whispered as the boss dragged Kouji to his feet and toward one of the larger machines. He slammed Kouji's chest against the metal machine as he let out a severely painful cough. Blood trickled down his cheek as his lungs gurgled from the blood that slowly filled them. It felt like his chest was being stabbed with a jagged hook. The male threw out his hands toward a female human sitting in one of the back machines pulling prints hot off the press. "You, come!" he ordered.

She looked up to him. She was in better condition, easily able to resist the spores as she sported an old military issued face mask. _Yes sir._ Came her muffled voice as she stood up. She had short, cropped hair, and was not all that strong, but according to the youkai and ayashi about she was a firecracker. She had made companions with a rather large Suisen in the area and no one was fool enough to mess with him or her. He was rather feared. It was not one of the friendlier Suisen and it liked none of the others so often slept in a corner, catching the occasional Churripu vermin. It had taken a liking to the girl and was named Shishi, by her. When she was called over by the dangerous youkai male Shishi spread his blossom mane and hissed in its throat, watching and warning the beast not to dare make a move to raise his hand against her.

The boss knew better. "Hold him!" The girl had no choice but to do as he said, or she would have no means of earning food for what family she had left. The male laughed as he pulled the machine's lever, raising the blade off its rest, the hydraulics hissing in effort. "No!" Kouji coughed, begging as he knew what would come next. It was no secret what the blood covered blade was often used for, besides slicing paper...

The boss sneered and held up his head. "I heard you stood against kami." he chuckled. "What we do here is a work of god! Anyone who turns against the kami is an evildoer! He gave us everything and it is our duty to purge the nonbelievers in order to make this world a beautiful place!" The boss took Kouji's wrists in one hand and held them against the main plate under the blade, his free hand on the lever. The boss chuckled darkly, flames practically hissing from his mouth. "Where is kami to protect you now that you cast him out Aono Kouji?" he questioned the sick worker. "Unless you are a believer...well? Hurry up and prove it, unless its hard for you to submit to the truth with others watching?" Kouji turned his head away, begging, screaming. He had seen the boss do this to many others.

"Tck." The boss scoffed and pulled the lever down and the blade slowly lowered over Kouji's wrists. "So is it true... you are a nonbeliever?" The blade slammed into bone, all nearby winced at the sound. The sound never grew easier with time. Kouji's screams were soon muted against the resonated hisses of the Churippu who found the scent of blood unpleasant, where as former hanabake would have swarmed at the smell of dinner served.

Kouji could feel as the blood tainted blade cut into his flesh and pinched down on nerves. He could feel his skin being peeled away and muscle being weakly crushed by the dull blade. The pain was immeasurable. The girl held him as she was told and turned her head away, tears staining her chocolate colored eyes.

_Shishi..._

The girl whispered. The Suisen stood to his feet and hissed out. It charged toward the printing press and slammed into the boss.

"Boss Kuyou!" Some of the ayashi called out in shock. Shishi was never one to really stand aggressive. As the youkai and ayashi tried to help the boss up he roared out and shoved them off him. Kouji slipped to the floor, bleeding, and falling unconscious. Flames danced around the boss' body as he held out his fists in his rage, gripping at what appeared to be fireballs that extended from his ire.

"You bitch!" He roared, flames touching the tips of his tongue and raining down the ends of his hair. The woman pulled the man against her body as Shishi stood guarding her form. The hanabake looked something akin to a cat with its back arched and its mane of petals spread like a lizard's frill. "How dare you call that beast on me!" He snarled indignantly. The woman shook her head and held the man, who was now going into shock.

"_How could you boss?" She sobbed through her mask. "This is not what kami wants!" _The kami would _never_ do this to his followers. She pressed her face against the man. The ayashi and youkai stood around. They knew their little firecracker was right, but what could they do? He was the devil's apprentice, boss Kuyou. He had Hokuto's permission to do as he saw fit. Who were they to disobey the prophet, even if it was against kami's words, was not the prophet a direct messenger of god?

* * *

**(A/N: Beta'd by GrrDraxin)**


	5. Sullied Sainthood

**Chapter 5: Sullied Sainthood**

Though there were few that had, before, celebrated the day of Patrick the Saint, there was still some given knowledge of the saint prior to the grace of the Rapture coming upon the world. The fruited beast, the one with no name, was not always moving. The place where it was known to most commonly _"rest"_ was its birth city of Kamakura. There it rooted itself to the ground and hovered over the former, thriving, metropolis and offered a dark shadow which hung overhead. An eerie, ethereal, almost mystical light would glow from the great, orange fruit, that was reminiscent to a paper lantern hung on Kyu Bon. The mighty beast, that had no form, or no face, seemed to _breathe_ as it rested in the soil. Atop its highest flat sat the throne of kami, untouched by the eyes of the common man. Tsukune sat laid back against his, literal, throne of thorns as the form of vines seemed to shift and change in accordance to his movements. Ruby was sat at his feet feeding their son from her breast. The newborn suckled from his mother's teat, and Tsukune could feel his heart swell at the sight of his son being cared for by his mother.

A familiar trail of dark vines stretched across the surface of ever twisting vines and plant flesh. At the end of it, were a platform seemed to stretched out, hung over and curled at the end like the branch of a tree. This was where Samhain would often perch, but since her body had been "rebuild" in the stead stood her necrotic corpse. It was a sight that seemed to sicken Ruby, but it pleased her master so she said nothing. It pleased him that they could once again walk, and move as they had once done. Even though the body, of fetid flesh and rotting existence, stood there, Samhain's vines twisted beneath the purple and snow white flesh, Tsukune still worried. Where had she been?

Deep within the nameless form that enthroned the darkest kami to ever walk upon the earth, a network of tunnels traced the thick vines of rust and sinew. Hanabake, of various forms, used these tunnels to enter the beast and carry food and nutrition into the plant, but also pollenate it and themselves. It was the primary source of their genetic variation. Samhain was the last _Helian_ _Hanabake_. Down in the depths of the Nameless one, among the tunnels and paths were chambers where the hanabake could safely lay their seeds. Samhain was no different.

In the chamber beneath where Tsukune and Ruby slept, was where Samhain had spent her time as of late. The sun, for the first time in almost two years shone brightly, but that seemed to have an adverse affect on the demon plant. She had secluded herself in the chamber she set aside for her, and her alone. Her claws slowly scraped against the pools of green and brown ooze that sloshed underfoot, most likely rotted plant matter and other secretions. The vines surrounding the area pulsed, thick with youki. The coils of fiber twisted together in piles that seemed to writhe with a life of their own. It was in fact Samhain's life force. Several of the vines would thin out and merge together where they curled along the ground and ended at the base of the hanabake's spine. The cord of vegetation made a visible bulge in the demon's back. Her form was curled over a large, pulsing sack covered with a white ooze.

The hanabake 's head laid settled on her crossed foreclaws, looking akin to a sunning lizard, all considering her once blood-red flesh was now a dull, dusty brown. Cracks ran along her dried out skin, where it was once smooth and hydrated. Her breathing was heavy as was her _heart._ Through the eyes of their corpse they would watch Tsukune and his son. Would they be able to make their master, their lover proud? Many times thereafter their first '_romantic_' encounter, the demon plant had taken seed from her master. Often with his permission, often not. Ruby would not dare speak against Tsukune's wishes; it was not in the witch's nature to question those in charge. But who was truly in charge? The hanabake could only picture her master and the happiness in his eyes. Would he remember the names they had since forgotten? The man eating fiend exhaled as her body stilled. The pulses of youki that spilled from her body ceased.

Outside the youki filled corpse fell to her knees. One eye ruby, the other violet: both stared off into the horizon. It was now the late noon and Hokuto was at the base of the Nameless One making his usual sermon. Today the prophet would use on example a true life man to further convince the weak-minded that their way was indeed the path of good. The youki ceased flowing to the corpse and it fell limp against its perch. Hokuto wore his black suit. He was always well dressed and his hair was neatly slicked back. He pushed his glasses back against the bridge of his nose. The older male would smirk against the feeling of the crowd.

Those infected with the pollen would gain a connection to the _hive_. They became one, on a spiritual level, but on a scientific level, the pollen acted more like microscopic parasites. The demonic parasites would be inhaled where they would spread through the bloodstream where they would eventually arrive in the brain. It would come to alter the weaker creatures such as humans, and hybrids, often damaging the frontal lobe, parietal lobe and neocortex where the higher forms of logical thinking and reasoning are held. Humans and ayashi are forced to their most base sets and, according to the research by Athens, the Amygdala, the most primitive area of the brain that controls the basest, thoughtless and automatic instinctive-emotional responses, seems to grow in size thanks to the pollen secretions.

With this part of the brain growing and the other parts becoming useless it affects the socialization of the human and ayashi as well as hanabake. The newly sized Amygdala could now take over the higher thought processes more easily. With these instincts the humans ans ayashi were more likely to follow what, to them, was in charge, what was alpha. In this case it was those like Hokuto that could resist the spores more greatly, or those like Kuyou who were not affected by the spores, but would follow one more powerful than he and willing to take charge and change the world from the weak, useless state it was in. Hokuto knew what the spores did and he accepted it for it allowed him a peace he had never before been given access to. The pamphlets and newsletters he would sent out were riddled with hanabake spores, seeing as the ink was of the hanabake's bodies.

"My brothers, my sisters!" He would call in joyous rancor as crowds gathered for the sermon. They would hang of every word spoken by the prophet, hand chosen by the chinunokamo. The red hanabake had not been seen for a time, but by the word of Hokuto she had chosen him, and to lie meant immediate death for those within the hanabake's territories. A great fear of sinning was instilled in a mere two years of terror. The people had allowed themselves to be gripped by the horrors and did anything that seemed to make the pain vanish, even worship a god that killed _hundreds_ if he saved billions more.

"At this day we will call upon the world of before to raise praise to the Saint of yore!" Hokuto's voice was memorizing and full of confidence. Being he was trusted by chinunokami each sermon was a life they had to follow without question, for their old life was riddled with sin.

"Pagriak, a Saint that rid the land of the the foul beasts which crawled upon their bellies and spoke lies to the people with their silver tongues! How his fellow man cast him away, much as they cast kami away, forced him into institution and made to work, given a life less than any _man or ayashi _deserves! Upon his return he did many good things to cast evil from his home, his island land! I stand before you to tell you, the great Ouhana too wishes to cast out this evil from his island home, for he was sent away to toil and cast aside like a wild beast, but never again! He has risen above all others!" Hokuto raised his hand to point toward the kami's throne. "And watches over you, taking you into his protection, be you demon or human, and gives you a feeling of safety and love that no other will." Hokuto stood tall and folded his arms behind his back. "Be not fooled by those that speak against kami, for what have they given you?"

All cheered in agreement. What have these others that claim kami _evil_ given them? They destroyed their beautiful town to build upon the land which they had raped. They set fire to the vegetation in hopes to rid them of the hanabake, and in return the hanabake saved them from death by bringing them food, punishing the wicked in a difficult time obviously created by the greed of the corporate power that sought more power. Hokuto was his saint, for he has become kami's voice, the voice that Samhain did not have. All she had wanted was to tell everyone how great her precious master was, and how safe he made her feel. The demon plant, of former youkaihood, wanted nothing more than to keep this feeling they had never before experienced.

The feeling of being loved by another so pure of heart...


	6. Seed of Dissent

**Chapter 6: Seed of Dissent**

Tsukune had grown worried as he lay in bed beside Ruby. The babe lay silent in his cradle, unbothered by the acts in which his parents partook during his slumber, after all it was how he was born. Ruby lay naked against Tsukune: chest to chest, upon the entwined mats of vines and roots. The only thing to cover their bodies were the furs offered to them by their worshippers as sacrifices to their protectors. Ruby's reddened flesh lay flush against Tsukune's and she would shudder as his fingers traced the old scars given to her by her first master. The skin there was not wholly sensitive, but she could feel as his fingers traced along the healed flesh, and knowing it was her master's fingers that traced her cursed flesh made her burn down to the core. Fresh scratch marks ran down the landscape of her back, but they would heal.

She felt Tsukune's lips press to her forehead as he roughly pulled her leg over his. The witch out let out a cry, her core still tender from his rough attentions. "Tsukune..." She strangled out in a whisper when he forced himself into the ebony haired woman's body again with little more consent than her pained whimpers. She would never tell him though, as he deserved to own and take every inch of her body for what she had done to his soul. She squeezed her eyes closed as he pumped into her with a delirious force. She would not complain and take any punishment and any reward he had to offer a wretch as she.

His fingers would dig into her still fresh cuts, letting the witch know she was still alive. Tsukune groaned out as his hips met her own and he would prove to the witch that he would never let her go, and prove that he was strong enough to protect her. He was no longer that weak, helpless boy she took in and saved after he tried, and failed, to save her, all of them. He would change this world for them so they had a place to live and be safe, happy. The young man would groan as he pinned his lover against the tangled mat of vegetation. He leaned his face into the crook of Ruby's neck. His lips brushed along the shell of her ear as he let out a strangled groan, for no matter how much he took the witch she would always feel so good.

"Where've my angels' wings gone? My poor girls." he pitied as he dug his fingers along the line of scars upon Ruby's shoulder blades. The witch's body shuddered and trembled to both the harsh touch along her back and the strong thrust into her core.

"T-tsukune?" She turned her ruby eyes up to his copper orbs. Their eyes met and Ruby would melt in the passion of his care. Even now he worried about those other two, but she was not jealous because he would touch and love her as he pleased and for as long as Tsukune stayed happy with her body and presence she would do whatever he wished. Her thoughts would soon flood as her heart thrummed painfully in her chest. Her mauve eyes would roll to the back of her head as her lover filled her with his seed, a privilege only one other was privy to.

The witch would arch her back and blindly accept that which he offered, even as his nails raked a new path down her already stinging back, but the sensation only worked to amplify the feelings coursing through her body. The ebony-haired witch cried out when Tsukune's teeth clamped down on her chest. Her arms wrapped around his head as she wrapped her legs around his waist. He dragged his fingers from her back and along her ribs and settled onto her hips. He did not slow his pace for he did not merely want to spill his essence into his lover, but his whole being: his heart and soul, something of which he had nearly lost long ago.

"Tsukune!" The witch's cry echoed through their sanctuary.

While the witch lay sate, the young man was worried. Normally Samhain would come and beg for Tsukune's attention and seed after he would take Ruby, or in any case come to sleep beside him. It was something he found normal, neither adorable nor creepy. He sat up and looked around. His clothes lay discarded on the ground beside him, Ruby curled with the fur quilts over her body.

"Samhain?" Tsukune called. Normally he had no need to call her, as she always came. The young kami reached out and took his pants from the ground. He pulled the pants up to cover what bit of dignity and shame still held from his humanity and made his way into the halls.

It was dim, weakly lit by the glowing fruits. Low hisses and clicks were heard from the Hanabake that roamed the Nameless form at any given time of the day or night, not that either or filtered into the dark, dank shelter of the tree's inner systems. Tsukune stepped into the hall, his bare feet slicking against the moist vegetable matter that acted like a ground for the assimilated structure of plant and building. Tsukune made his way down the corridor of twining roots and made his way toward the place Samhain seemed fond of.

Unlike many of the other humans, Tsukune seemed wholly unaffected by the spores that lined the Nameless One's internal form, or even in the air. Many outside that knew he was some sort of human, feared his power. If he was able to resist the spores, what other supernatural powers had he access to? It was obvious the reasons the Witch was immune, being a border being, but they were ill aware that the only reason Tsukune was still _alive_ was Samhain.

Ruby was Tsukune's reason to live, Samhain was his reason for living. Without the regular sexual contact from the demon plant he would not gain the immunities necessary. Samhain's fluids would mix with the human's and create a strong deterrent to disease. Whatever flowed through the demon's body was what allowed the human to grow immune to the spores affects. He knew that Samhain somehow protected him while he would protect Ruby.

It was a small chamber beneath theirs that overlooked a window, the glass left over from the building portion of the Nameless One before the assimilation. Tsukune entered the dark room. The ceiling was covered with the orange fruits, giving a dim light to what would otherwise be a dark room. It was coiled end to end with vines that belonged to Samhain, some of which were pulsing with life.

"Samhain?" Something was wrong.

She never ignored his call. Tsukune stepped further into the room, where other hanabake were either killed and absorbed or maimed, for entering. Even Ruby was warded off for some reason. There was a new structure in the room he had never seen before. They looked like giant flower buds, almost like Rafflesia buds. They were a reddish, almost bronzed hue with spots of yellow freckles. He walked over, only to be horrified by the sight of a shriveled, lifeless Samhain upon the ground.

"Samhain!" Tsukune shouted and rushed over to her side. "No!" he sobbed as he shakily reached out toward the lifeless, browned plant. Had she been sick? How could he have been so selfish and not known? "Sam...sam..." He shook her corpse, but there was no response, in fact she would crumble against his touch, her body having completely dried out.

Tsukune sat there on his knees, wallowing in his sorrow. He had lost them again. He felt the tears wash down his face as his heart rocked against the cage of ribs. How he wished to tear out his heart, perhaps feed it to Satoru... "Satoru?" Tsukune blinked and looked over to the massive raven who sat perched on the Rafflesia. He cawed out and poked his beak against the pulsing pods. The familiar jumped off the pods and flew out as they began to shift, shake.

Tsukune could only watch in questionable horror as the pods moved. Had...had these taken Samhain's life from him? The sorrow filled male looked around. He pushed to his feet and scurried over to a piece of discarded debris that was possibly once a pipe. He grabbed the object and staggered over toward the pods, his body unsteady due to the rage induced fury.

"How dare you take her from me!" He shouted and skewered the pod with the metal object.

With a sickening squelch the pipe embedded itself into the sealed plant. The pipe slid down and traced a slash into the flesh of the reddish flower as it slowly began to blossom. Tsukune fell back onto his bum, his pants soaking from the rotted matter that swam about in a pool of gunk on the ground. Tsukune trembled in fear.

Had he finally gone insane?

But it was so real. He felt a pair of warm hands touch his face. His lip quivered as the tears flowed freely from his eyes.

"Don't cry otousama." A pair of voices spoke in unison.

"M-moka... Kur...kurumu?" He finally exhaled as the pair of ruby and violet eyes penetrated his gaze deeply. Two, familiar faces, leaned in close to him. They were small, chubby and filled with a reborn innocence.

The tiny girls leaned close to the male's face as they seemed about ready to kiss him, but instead leaned forward and embraced the male. He hesitated, unsure if this was reality. Would they crumple against his fingertips? Would he lose them, or had they returned to him after years of culling this great evil?

"Don't cry." The silver-haired girl, who looked no older than three, spoke with a flat smile.

The blue-haired girl giggled and gripped the man tightly. She looked to be the same age. "It okay, we here!" She reminded him cheerfully.

Tsukune squeezed his eyes shut and held their nude figures close to his body as he openly sobbed. They were! They were here! They came back to him. "Please..." He hoarsely whispered. "Forgive me." he begged. All he had ever wanted was for them to absolve him of this burden.

The silver-haired girl smirked and pressed her cheek to his so her lips brushed against his ear. "We've long since rid you of that _poison_." She all but hissed as she soothingly brushed her chubby little hand through his hair.

"All is forgiven!" The bright-eyed, tail-wagging girl giggled as she snuggled into Tsukune's chest.

Tsukune sobbed and squeezed them tightly, as if they would vanish were he to let go. "I love my girls... I do." He admitted painfully.

"We love otousama soooo much!" They giggled and clung to the male lovingly. Tsukune pushed to his feet, the girls in his arms. He made his way back toward his sleeping chamber. The hanabake scuttled away at the presence of the two girls, vanishing into their tunnels. They had a moment of free reign where they could perhaps feed on the human that stood to live among them, believing Samhain had abandoned him, but instead she grew stronger.

Ruby had woken from her sleep at the sound of Tsukune's scream. She was sitting up, holding the blanket of fur to her chest, only to see her lover enter the room with two, very familiar, girls in his arms.

"Tsukune...?" Ruby looked to the two girls, feeling the obvious killing intent emanating from them, far stronger than it had originally been. It was nearly doubled—between them both.

* * *

**(A/N: **

**Rassflesia: Parasitic Plant bigger than a human head.**

**Beta'd by GrrDraxin.)**


	7. House of Fire

**Chapter 7: House of Fire**

The Suisen hissed at the boss and pressed forward.

"Beast, know your place!" The youkai snarled and perked his ears out from under his hair, taking his demon form as he felt threatened by the demon plant. The girl was surrounded by the youkai.

She held the bleeding male to her body, squeezing her eyes closed. Instead of being grabbed or struck the youkai and ayashi helped lift the man up from the ground and helped their firespitter to her feet. She blinked the tears from her eyes and looked up at them.

"W-why...?" She questioned, though she was not unappreciative, she had thought that humans and youkai were enemies. The men grinned and laughed.

_Come on firespit, you've been with us for how long?_

One spoke comforting words. The turned and looked to Kuyou as they took took their true forms. The demon beast snarled as four flaming tails split from his back and his hair became a mane of flames. It was now apparent his identity. He was a daiyoukai, a yoko. Quite a feared demon in Japan. Many were so powerful they themselves were considered gods, but Kuyou was no _god_.

"Fools! How dare you go against my orders! This is the will of kami!" He roared out as his body grew and legs twisted back into digitrade as his claws curved dangerously so and his knuckles cracked in a show of force. The other youkai roared out. The ayashi hissed and with their full blooded kin stepped in front of their girl.

_Blasphemy Kuyou! _

One accused.

_Kami has ears everywhere! Your words shame him! _

Another called in anger.

_You always go too far! Punishing us is not your job! We won't stand for it any longer!_

Another roared, demanding retribution. Kuyou laughed and nearly doubled in his height. Shishi kept his bloom expanded trying to seem intimidating, but the demon looked down on him and the flames painfully licked against his leathery hide. Shishi shrieked and sauntered back, still keeping up his intimidation.

Kuyou laughed, fire dancing from between his elongated fangs. "You want to see a firespitter?" The yoko inhaled deeply and exhaled a plume of fire that caused the air to erupt thanks to the spores and gaseous vapors that thickly hung in the air.

The surprised youkai shouted and leapt back. Shishi shrieked and charged the demon fox. The shrieks of the parasitic Churippus could be heard as their nests were struck by the fearsome flames, many setting on fire. The tiny, yellow beasts scurried into their hives and hid from combat, now agitated by the troubling presence.

Kuyou grinned and stepped forward. Four tailed yoko were some of the most dangerous Osaki class of kitsune and were at the peak of their power. "So you dare betray kami? His word? Who writes the word of Kami? It is I!" the beast roared, his body turning a hot white as his flames intensified. "All of you, you will be buried here! The administrator of kami's word!"

A shrill cry carried into the night air as the beast charged. The other youkai and ayashi stood together! They would not be pushed around! This was their paradise and they could not allow Kuyou to bring onto them the punishment of kami! "**Realize my true power!**" The yoko's body erupted with flames, his every step melting the ground beneath him into liquid fire.

Shishi looked toward the girl and the other ayashi. The Suisen instinctively charged. It was the Suisen who protected the humans, those who could not harbor the power of a youkai. "Shishi!" the girl shouted, her voice breaking under the force of her scream. She felt a body cover hers with his own as the shop was swallowed by fire. The girl felt as she was lifted off the ground and carried out of the shop. It was dark, her lungs were choked with smoke. It was horrifying. She could not see, but she could hear the heartbeat of the one that carried her. It was a gentle sound that tapped and drummed against the racing steps in tandem.

Before the girl, the ayashi, and youkai realized they had all fled from the firestorm. The pollen from the Churippu only intensified the fires and the demon plants cries of agony blanketed the sky with terror. She was set down and looked up to the black-haired male. He had a charming smile. Around the youkai's neck he wore a silver pendant that appeared to be the shape of a wolf's head. His sleek hair was pulled back by a red hair band. His tanned skin was burned and charred from the fires. He had used his entire form to guard her body.

Before the girl could ask if the male was okay a bestial roar rocked the ground as, from the debris of the shop, shot Boss Kuyou. The yoko stood upon the rubble with pride drumming in his chest as he laughed. He held his hands in a display; he showed he had no wounds to be counted, in his right hand the charred corpse of Shishi.

"Shishi!" the girl tried to rush forward, but was held back by the youkai that had protected her. A dark grin pulled back over the youkai's lips. "**I'll make you realize that even as a group you have no chance against me!"** He praised himself and went to step forth, but a strange buzzing noise caused him to pause as his fire-tipped ears perked and his sapphire-crystal eyes turned toward the ground as it softly rattled beneath his paws. He looked around and grinned as the Churripu crawled out of the rubble and turned to face the youkai and ayashi.

The Churripu lived in the printing shop and when ever there was damage done to the building they would rebuild using their parasitic nests. Kuyou was convinced they would rebuild his paradise. He laughed and held out his hands. "**Really, marvelous aren't they?**" He smirked and held out his hand as a kitsune-bi formed in his palm, rotating rapidly as the superheated attack burned the very air that surrounded it. "**Now watch as I defeat each and every one of you—helpless to st—ah?" ** Kuyou looked down as he felt something crawling against his legs.

The Churripu squeaked and chirped as they crawled up the yoko's heated body. One would think the Churippu were weak to fire, considering how their spores would be destroyed by furnace fires, but in truth they were extremely resilient to fire, one of the strains of hanabake born to combat against efforts to raze their nests. When a Churippu's seeds are set on fire, it activates them and stimulates the plants to grow and take root.

Touching the fires of Kuyou's body they began to rapidly grow from their miniature sizes: vines spread out of the orifices in the backs of their small, bud-like bodies.

"**NO!**" the yoko shouted as he felt the painful sting of the vines jabbing into his flesh, the tentacles boring beneath his flame-coated skin. **"Why? Why do you turn on me?**" They...they were supposed to build a new world!

The girl watched with tears in her eyes. The ayashi and youkai tended to the injured man. In the background he would scream as they would use their ayashi forms to cut his hands from his wrists: the forms were limply dangling from their own flesh. The would cauterize the man's wounds, guilt driven after what they allowed that fascist cult blazer to drive them into out of fear for disobeying kami, but they knew that this was not what kami wanted.

The girl was held close to the dark-haired male. She squeezed her eyes closed and sneered. "Treating others as you wish!" She shouted and shook her head, pushing from the male. "It's the punishment you deserve!" She spitefully raged. "Youkai or human doesn't matter! We're friends!" the ayashi and youkai stood proud toward the lil firespitter. She was their treasure as they knew she treasured them.

Kuyou's screams filled the air as he felt the tendrils crawl up his flesh and twist violently. The Churippus were enraged their nest had been destroyed but they were instinctively driven to absorb the fire and grow. The yoko hissed and pulled his lips back over his fangs. "**What do you mean friend? Superficial crap makes me sick! Kami will come and you will watch your comrades suffer!"** His screams intensified, only to die down when the tentacles twisted and combined and jabbed into the yoko's mouth, forcing its way down his gullet.

His shouts muffled out against the vines and his flailing body slowly stilled as his white flames slowly tinted out to a soft orange, and eventually black as his body fell limp against the Churripu's vines where his insides were turned into catalyst for their crystalized hives.

The youkai male looked down to the girl. "You okay?" he asked. The girl looked up and nodded.

"Thank you..." She paused not sure what to call him. The male smirked and thrust his thumb against his chest.

"Name's Morioka, Morioka Ginei, but you can call my Gin." He patted her head. She blushed and chuckled.

"Gin-kun, thank you. I'm Aono, Aono Kyouko." She offered. Gin raised a brow and was about to open his mouth to speak, but Kyouko gasped and turned to run over to her uncle.

"Kou-othoji!" She dropped to her knees at his side. The ayashi and youkai did well to bandage his wounds, but he no longer had hands to speak of, but he had his life, but his health was dwindling away.

Gin stepped forward and pushed the others out the way. "Even though his wounds are fine, he still is infected, the Churippu's pollen has most likely crystalized in his lungs. I'm surprised he's survived this long." Gin removed his black jacket and put it over Kouji's chest. "Come on we have to take him out of here and somewhere safe." though he wasn't sure where they would find any medical professionals, if any hospitals were still left in working order here on Kansai, after all he was merely visiting...

* * *

**(A/N: **

**Otohji: Uncle (brother of my father)**

**Beta'd by GrrDraxin)**


	8. Encumber

**Chapter 8: Encumber**

At first Ruby was concerned that the girls had returned for revenge. Her heart raced when Tsukune had presented the newborns to him. At first she had feared they would kill her in her sleep, slit her throat, but she knew she deserved much worse after what she had done to the vampire in a fit of feminine jealousy.

Nothing.

She spent much of her time caring for Akuma, sewing dresses for the girls, and taking care of the hanabake. Even though the hanabake were mostly self sustaining, but the problem was that they bred. The witch would cultivate and cross breed the hanabake to keep their genetic structure strong, she was also working on making the hana more sentient rather than rely on hivemind, which it seemed the girls still carried over them. She had checked the girls to make sure they were healthy she noticed they still had traits from their Samhain form. When they healed from their minor cuts, as girls were: would come crying to their mother when they had boo-boos, they would heal with fibrous reconstruction.

"Moka-chan..." Ruby called as the girls raced around laughing loudly. It seemed all the girls could remember were their names...and hatred, though to Ruby's luck they could not recall the reason for their anger. To repent the witch would raise them as her own.

Moka slid to a halt. Ruby was in Tsukune and her's chambers with Akuma in her lap, feeding the infant. Kurumu cutely _omphed!_ when she bumped into her sister's back. The blue-haired chibi giggled and wrapped her arm's around the more serious faced twin's face. The twins wore a pair of matching white dresses. The silver-haired youkai's locks were pulled back by a white ribbon, and the tiny blue-haired chibi wore a hair frill that was white and had hanging ribbons of magenta that matched her eyes.

Ruby smiled warmly, still finding herself nervous around the chibi twins. "Come here," she called, the pair turning and padding into the room. "Tsukune will worry if you get hurt again." She was horrified by the look in Tsukune's face.

The girls had been playing roughly with one of the smaller hanabake within the nest and had gotten hurt. Tsukune had dragged the plant away and tossed him into the many, pulsating chambers within the Nameless One. The shrieks from the plant as it was recycled within the Nameless One's body, still burned her ears.

The girls giggled and dropped to their knees when they were on the couple's sleeping mat of vines. They scurried over to where Ruby was breast feeding Akuma. The week old boy was latched to his mother's teat, suckling. His hands held onto her breast as he was nurtured. The boy's chocolate eyes turned toward his sisters. By now the infant recognized the voices that rang around his environment. He giggled, gums pinching down on his teat as he giggled.

Moka raised a brow and reached out, poking his cheek, causing him to giggle again. Kurumu puckered her lips and chu'd! "Kuma-tan~" the blue-haired chibi squealed as Moka continued to poke his cheek gently. The girls sat back on their knees and looked up. Satoru sat perched on a vine and cawed. He jumped off his perch and flew down, landing on Tsukune's shoulder as he entered.

The young man rubbed the back of his head and smiled nervously. "Tadaima." He would offer as the small, reborn demons jumped to their feet and raced toward him.

"Outosan!" They squealed and latched themselves to either of his legs.

Ruby looked up and smiled warmly to her lover. "Okaerinasai Tsukune." The witch stood to her feet. Akuma still clung to her, cradled in her arms. Tsukune walked over and placed his hands on Ruby's shoulders. His left hand settled on her cheek. He had a soft, almost hurt look. Ruby furrowed her brows worriedly. "What's the matter Tsukune?" Ruby did not wish to question her master, but he looked troubled.

Tsukune weakly smiled and kissed her forehead. "It seems we have to move." The young man did not wish to place worry on his lover. "It seems there are those who lie about their happiness and wish to harm the peace we have settled in this area." The Nameless One was still rooted in Tokyo Bay. It has been nearly a week since his participation in the sermon.

Kouji was taken to the only hospital in all of Tokyo City: Tokyo University Hospital. It had been spared in the devastation, many considered it a gift from kami. Though things were hard now that there was almost no technology to speak of and it was like begin back in the feudal era with the dwindling supplies that were left.

Ruby furrowed her brows, unsure as to what could possibly happen. The people seemed so happy. Tsukune walked passed her and removed his boots, settling his feet into the more comfortable sandals now that his travels for the day were done. He, even with two chibis clung to his legs, strode toward the exit which overlooked all the Bay. Ruby followed.

The Nameless One, as if upon Tsukune's command, began to move. His loud, bellowing groans could be heard for miles. "It seems..." Tsukune began as he thought back to what Hokuto had told him when he came to visit the people. That there are those that seek to kill him and bring back the devastation of war and strife to this world. The strong do not appreciate the weak in charge. "There are those that seek to bring back the past, even though it is dead." he flatly stated, looking down to his precious girls and toward Ruby. His gentle smile never left his face. "I swore I would protect you girls at all cost. All." He has even offered his soul to the one who dared challenged the fate brought upon this world, by its own actions.

Out in the hall of the hospital Kyouko sat, wringing her hands in worry. She no longer had Shishi to protect her, and because she was so weak he was hurt! Gin stepped out of the room Kouji was being looked over by a young ayashi nurse named Yakumaru-sensei. The nurse had been caught in the middle of a conflict she did not wish to be part of. She muched preferred the supposed paradise of a kami that probably didn't exist. Gin patted Kyouko's shoulder.

"You okay?" he was worried. She had been with her uncle after he regained consciousness. They had spoken for a long time. Kyouko squeezed her eyes and chuckled, exhaling sharply, freeing her constricted lungs.

"Obasan is alive." She was relieved to hear her aunt was okay and stayed with family who managed to survive. "But..." Kouji had also told her he had found Tsukki... her precious little Tsukki. "Just..." She looked to Gin. She trusted the male with her life, as she did all her friends that came with them. Everyone was sleeping on the hospital's first floor which was a makeshift shelter along with the basement. Few hanabake roamed the area to keep the hospital a clean zone. She smirked up at Gin. "Don't worry about it, and move your hand." She chuckled.

Gin pocked his hand, removing it from her breast. Most girls socked him a good one or screamed. She was more playful about it, only responding by punching his chest, upon his more male breast. The youkai male chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. Kyouko shook hers.

"Thanks Gin, I know you're trying to keep the mood light, I appreciate it." Gin smiled warmly at her response and nodded.

"Don't worry none 'bout it..." The male offered and sat down beside her. He would wait til she was ready to talk. In such troubled times as these... they needed all the support anyone would offer. The world was still not yet recovered from the devastation of human and youkai bred animosity from the shift in society. It had not been the hanabake that caused the chaos, but the sentient lifeforms, and it embarrassed the youkai male.

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**(A/N: Beta'd by GrrDraxin)**


	9. Tender Wish for Death

**Chapter 9: Tender Wish for Death**

From its roots did the Nameless One rose. The rush of waters sped toward the edges of the bay's coasts as it would stand, its brownish-coppery vines slithered from the waters. Vicious cries were heard. Clung to the Nameless One's arm, taking sustenance for their betterment, were massive, green bodied hanabake. Their skin was smooth and smiley and glowed in the dark. Their claws were hooked and dug into the hard, what some say was, metal like flesh of the father plant, and long tails thinning as it went along its length, tipped in web-like leaves. They had more streamline bodies and instead of mouths, thy had large gils along their necks which stretched and flapped with effort now that they were out of the water. They shook their bodies, water splashing all over. Under their tails they had a sack of eggs that were slicked with thin, white ooze and stuck against their skin to protect them. The hanabake all kicked off the Nameless One and dove back into the Bay.

Mermaids occupied the Tokyo Bay heavily. Where their diet once heavily consisted of human flesh now were only offered the flesh of sinners. They say that a watery grave awaits those that sin against kami. The Mermaids surfaced and wailed in agony at the sight of their provider leaving. The maidens of the sea could only watch as their master left them. How cruel fate was. The witches, border beings and the most foul of bloods: chosen by master.

The leader of the mermaids, Ichinose Tamao, turned her head to the sound of racing steps nearing the shore. She kicked her tail under the water and seemed to rise out of the surface as if floating on the air. It gave command to the other mermaids to dive. The green-haired beauty, leader of the mermaid clans, dove, followed by her pod. At the edge of the Bay Gin kicked the ground in aggravation. On his back he carried a still debilitated Kouji, healthy enough to leave the hospital, but too weak to keep up with he and Kyouko.

"Damn it!" Gin cursed as he looked over to Kyouko who clutched her hands to her chest.

The young woman smiled weakly and looked to Gin. "Don't worry Gin-kun, thanks a lot for helping..." She sighed and plopped herself on the hard concrete of the bay's docks. The casts of man-made ground were jagged with ruin and were choked with vines from overgrowing grasses which were fed by the nearby Bay. Kyouko sighed and stared off, her legs leaning over the dock, kicking against the air.

Gin set down Kouji who held his arms tucked to his chest. He could still feel his hands where stumps now sat, but he would preserver. Kyouko was adamant about saving her cousin. She could never see him in a dark light. Ever since they were little Kouji remembered Kyouko's reaction when he was brought home from the hospital. Her parents were not blessed with the ability to bare children, so she would be left an only child, but that would be a great asset for his son's development.

Kouji remembered her first words when they allowed her to sit and hold her baby cousin. She was so small, compared to now.

_Tsu...tsu...tsukki is cute. Kyouko will help otohji and obasan take care of Tsukki!_

She was emotionally attached to the young boy. Because of her tomboyish nature a lot of the boys at her school would tease her. She naturally had short grown hair, it never grew beyond her shoulders, and her mother always kept it cut shorter because the girl would get into all sorts of things that were oft impossible to wash out. Tsukune was always there when she came over after her Elementary classes. Tsukune was still in Kindergarten so would arrive home at a different time. Kyouko's parents worked during most of the day, and she lived just across the street from her aunt and uncle.

She would always sit in Tsukune's room and talk to him. Telling him the proper way to behave with girls, even if they act tough, or strong. They were still girls and it was a man's job to protect them earnestly. He always adhered to his cousin's words. She was a strong influence on the way he behaved and treated others. It was not until later he had come to understand why Kyouko always came over with puffy eyes.

They were always together.

They bathed, ate, and slept together. They were neigh inseparable and Kyouko always knew when Tsukune was hiding something. When he passed his exams, she had been the last to hear. Why had Tsukune not told her?Had she known he was going to such a far and desolate place to go to school she would have never allowed it, or allowed him to go alone! She didn't blame her auntie, or uncle. It was just how things happened, but that did not make it hurt any less.

"You look so sad little girl..." A devious voice called from the water. Kyouko blinked and looked down, nearly jumping at the sight of a woman's head peering out of the water at her. Those dark, deceiving eyes were fully of hunger, as was typical for youkai now-a-days it seemed.

"Oy!" Gin shouted as he leaned to look over the edge of the water. "She's with me!" He asserted, making sure these lower breeds of fish food knew their place.

The green-haired sea maiden pressed her fingertips to her lips as she surfaced a bit, water cascading down her chest, and making her breasts almost shine in the sun of the late afternoon. "Why Morioka, is that you? I haven't seen you in a-" A snarl interrupted the sea demon's taunting words.

"Clam it, Tamao. What are you doing here?" The werewolf had no time for these beasts. If he could help it he would have let them be dragged to kami-knew-where with the Nelum Hanabake, the only known aquatic breed of hanabake, which vary from country to country. They only live in fresh water, but there was a particular breed, the Ypresa Hanabake, which have a distinct flower bud at the end of their tails instead of fins, which distinctly place them as a prior evolution to the Nelum. Ypresa are extinct in the wild, as none have been spotted since the second October, but there are still many that are said to sleep in the belly of the Nameless One.

Tamao swam closer to the dock and placed her hand on the cold concrete. She looked up to Kyouko and allowed her lips to pull back in a smirk. Gin kept close to Kyouko, glaring down at his species kin. She was part of several species that had sided with this false kami. Gin didn't trust their kind one bit. Many of the higher monsters had sided with the Dark Lords, but many of the hybrids and lesser youkai felt it unfair. Their society, for along time, had been run on this rule of the strong and weak, with no level of equality which the humans seem to have far more in abundance, all considering their oft barbaric and ruthless nature.

It was how youkai saw humans, but in turn it was how humans saw youkai. Kyouko was not a youkai, but she had many companions who were. She smiled warmly, disarming the mermaid. She had not expected such a response from a human girl, let alone as she was at the mouth of a Mermaid's territory.

"I'm Kyouko." The young human would offer. Tamao, dumbstruck, would nod, even allow her jaw to fall slack when the girl laid stomach first on the dock (against the greater wishes of the werewolf) and reached her hand out in greeting. Tamao reached out and took her hand. "I was hoping to meet your kami." Kyouko could feel Tamao stiffen.

To meet the kami? To praise him, indeed, was something all could do, to be graced by his presence, all were, but to see him? Meet him? Twas a prayer not even Hokuto himself is graced with, what made this human think she was anything worth for the kami to meet?

Kyouko retook her hand and sat up on the dock. "I changed his diapers before he was some kami, afterall." She smiled. Tamao could sense no false words from the human's mouth, so did that mean...

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**(A/N: Beta'd by GrrDraxin)**


	10. My Adorable Patch of Flowers

**Chapter 10: My Adorable Patch of Flowers**

Tamao would explain that the Nameless One only comes every two weeks since the Second October. The Mermaids oft follow him after for he offers them sacrifices for keeping the waters safe with his hanabake. Tamao pointed out to the Nelum who were swimming around, gathering up plants from the bottom of the bay.

"The witch uses these plants for something." Though the mermaid knew not wat. She sat with her belly on the bank, her tail splashing in the water., Kyouko sat beside Gin as they stared off into the bay, the yougn woman had her legs pulled up toward her chest, her denim skirt was little left of its former self.

The werewolf sighed and brushed his hands through his hair. "How do you know it's a witch? Reckon you've no proof a that." The lycan supposed. It was only guessing at this point, no one really knew the Ouhana beyond what Hokuto told them.

Tamao rolled her eyes. "Hokuto-sama told us." She explained and pointed off towards road. "He does not ride with the kami, but he follows the pilgrimage path to Kamakura. "The path takes about half a day since Hokuto-sama stops to speak to worshipers." The mermaid confirmed, her pod behind her all cooing and squealing at the thought of Hokuto-sama talking to them directly! "We are water swimmers, so we are graced by the Nameless One's presence, whom carries kami, but Hokuto-sama speaks to the land dwellers and weeds out the sinners from them." She licked her lips. The mermaid pod typically followed the Nameless One through Tokyo Bay to Sagami Bay by Kamakura in Kansai.

"What do you mean?" Gin questioned as pushed to his feet, looking down at the mermaid, his sneakers digging into the sands. Tamao twitched her fin-tipped ears.

"My wolf, you are so behind the times, to think." The mermaid leader teased and she rolled on her side. "Nelum gather sea grown herbs and plants for the kami's witch. The Nameless One roots himself in Sagami Bay when it is not here. My pod follows the Nelum's trail, we worship the waters kami feeds us from." The mermaid said, matter-of-factly.

Kyouko thought a moment and looked off along the trail. "So can we follow your pod?" the woman asked. Tamao stared at her for a moment, but shrugged and swayed her tail along the water's surface.

"I suppose, I still don't believe you, but it's interesting." She chuckled and pushed her body off the sand to roll back into the bay water. The mermaid resurfaced and huffed, the water bubbling against her breathe. "Rest, we travel in the dawn when the Nelum carry their herbs." Tamao smirked and winked at Gin who huffed and pushed his hands into his pocket. He rather not say anything, but he wanted to see it for himself, this paradise the so-called kami had made with blood-stained hands.

"_Morioka." The old mikogami would speak. "We need for you to infiltrate these lands, Kansai is a dangerous place and one can be sure that we are considered hostiles on sight, thanks to Kaneshiro leaking out information and images throughout the community." The old priest would smirk as he sat in counsel with the three Dark Lords. They sat behind him, staring to the wolf. One of the dark lords bowed their head._

"_Morioka, please do not think badly of us." The female's gentle voice spoke as she humbly inclined her head. "Though I hold a personal grudge for what that beast did to my sister." Gin looekd up to Kahlua and sighed. "Please forgive my place, my Mother Akasha is still unwell you see..." the elder vampire apologized._

_The shorter individual, the second Dark Lord, sat with a pipe in his mouth. He let out a breathe and scoffed. "How is that old girl?" His wrinkled lips would come over the tail of his pipe as he adjusted the sunglasses upon his worn face. Kahlua giggled and nodded._

"_Oddly it was thanks to the hanabake mother has regained consciousness." Kahlua noted as she brushed down her dress. Mikogami sat back and threaded his fingers together._

"_I see your sister has decided not to join us?" The old man spoke as he sighed out. With the Dark Lady's reawakening that would mean _he_ too would awaken and it would mean the trouble was in even more dangerous. The beast pined for the power he lost in that young vampire, his successor. Kahlua's face would twist down into a frown as she shook her head._

"_No sir, aneue has decided to take the Ouhana with her own hands, and Kokoa is still devastated. She had trained day and night in hopes she would be able to s..save..." Kahlua placed her hand over her mouth as she fought back, not tears of remorse, but of true sorrow._

_The Dark Lord of short stature sighed and shook his head. "We are still not sure." He would note as he let out a disgruntled sigh._

"_Know what?" Gin questioned, face twisted in a sneer. Mikogami would motion his gloved hands._

"_Anything." He would pause before he began to explain. "There were no bodies found. Hanabake would seemingly revive the corpses they have killed or infect them with seeds were they unable to kill them so easily, like youkai or ayashi and some humans. "Many humans, and many more youkai and ayashi, have been found alive and in hiding. Its seems that hanabake sense motion." Gin would raise a brow at the old man's words._

_The Dark Lord coughed into his sleeve and tapped his pipe of the old dust before continuing to smoke. "It means boy," the older Lord would clear his phlegm. "There is the chance there are many, thought dead, alive. It's only hope, but right now it is keeping morale up, and we're running out of time. A dark cloud once again hangs over Kamakura." _

Gin laid on his back on the grass and folded his arms behind his head. He sighed, but blinked when he felt Kyouko roll into his side. She muttered softly and curled up. It was a cold night, and the nightmares would be the only thing to warm many. _"Tsukki."_ The young woman muttered as she drifted off to sleep.

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**(A/N: Beta'd by GrrDraxin)**


	11. Hokkaido: My Wintry Graveyard

**Chapter 11: Hokkaido: My Wintry Graveyard**

The Tsugaru Strait was once believed it would protect the lonely lands of Hokkaido from the devastation that filled Honshu when the Hanabake first began to fill the island nation with fear and terror. Soon Hanabake learned to swim, and learned to spread their pollen through the air. There was no stopping them. The only protection the people had were the Seikan Tunnel which crossed between the Honshu and Hokkaido islands. They were able to barricade themselves and create an underground city. Many found it ironic. Though they were unaware, much of the human population was driven underground, back from whence they came.

The mammalian ancestors of man had come from the darkness into the light when their greater predators had become scarce, and smaller. Humans grew and became the bane of all life. The predators once again rose to power and drove humans back down to where they belonged. If they could not protect the earth they lived on, the creatures they shared it with turned on them. Of these creatures the oldest and greatest varied of them: plants, would take initiative.

Akuma was asleep in Ruby's arms, the witch could only fearfully observe the girls grow. It seems this had been their plan all along, at least unconsciously. Their youki must have been incredible to have taken over the very body of the hanabake that consumed their flesh. Yes she had planted the seed herself out of some weak and helpless time in her life, but thanks to Tsukune she had fought on repenting. Instead of destroying the innocent she would protect the weak and give her lover the power to be strong. She cradled her son and sighed as she sat atop of the outcropping perch of one of the vines of the plant demon they rode upon. Though the ones they protected gave him no name, Tsukune had affectionately given him the name Karasuuri-chan.

Karasuuri, or Uri-chan as Ruby called him, had settled in Sagami Bay while Nelum brought to him his pollen. They would also provide plants the witch needed to make medicine. Tsukune was human, and the pollen would often make him cough. It seems Samhain had kept these fits at a minimum, but now that the red-fleshed plant demon was gone Tsukune was having trouble breathing the pollen constantly, Akuma as well. The giant plant could not pollinate as other Hanabake did, for he was the only of his kind. He depended on his lesser kin to bring him pollen for his seeds and in return he would give them pods that the hakabake would tend to and hatch in nurseries and nests, known as ryokuya, around the world. Tsukune had been worried about something the girls had told him.

_Our little sister is all alone in the cold! Can we go visit?_

There were few that occupied the north, even less hanabake. Unfortunately Ruby could never breed out their weakness to cold. A hanabake, which was not grown by her, evolved in the cold wastelands of Hokkaido. After the Second Month the island, that was once home to over 47 prefectural sub-divisions had become a waste. The clouds of spores that Uri-chan had released into the air had dropped the temperature of the country by several degrees, and it did not help that much of the world's temperature was already on the decline. Clouds of these black spores had been carried by the trade winds and left the planet cold in its northern hemisphere, and Hokkaido was hit hard. The Russian nations had been abandoned, their temperatures, though never truly habitable, were no longer home to the remains of any form of humanity. Much of the Northern hemisphere had been wrapped in what was being called the final ice age.

Tsukune was of course worried. He was always concerned about others, and Ruby had come to believe this had been the only reason Uri-chan had decided to move. Tsukune's heart must have willed the demon to move. She felt her heart filled with pride for her lover's kindness, but she could not brush away the suspect that carried over Moka and Kurumu. They had a great power over the demon plants, that often superseded her own command over them. Reborn, no reincarnated, this was not a rebirth. They still had the same faces, the same _youki,_ they were still frighteningly powerful. Of course she had felt it, which was why she had taken initiative and killed Moka whilst her powers were somehow, limited.

Regardless of the circumstances it would seem that they held even more power now than before.

Mansaku were hanabake that lived in the winter wastelands of the Northern Hemispehre, and populated much of Hokkaido while other sub species of Mansaku populated the Western continents. Uri-chan crawled his way onto land, his roots draining a thick, black ooze as it rose from its watery depths.

Hanabake would scurry along the land at Uri-chan's feet. Birds would flee from their treetop nests as the creature of infinite, writhing limbs would twist and turn about as if it were truly walking, but it appeared more a cross between a serpent's slither and lizard's gait, were it to be lumbering about on its hind legs. Hokkaido was a cold, listless wasteland. Ruby was bundled up in a long sleeved dress; the neck of the witch's dress was lined with black feathers. Akuma was bundled up in blankets the infant nuzzled and warm against his mother's chest.

Tsukune stood beside her as she sat upon the outcropping of Uri-chan's vines, the orange globes glowing softly beneath them, lighting the snow-covered grounds beneath them. The kami wore a white, down coat, with the hood pulled over his head. Black feathers lined the hood and kept his already red cheeks from stinging with blistering cold. Moka and Kurumu stood clung to his side, Moka upon his left and Kurumu his right. The girls wore mittens which matched their overcoats. The twins looked to be somewhere in their teens now, but were mere weeks old by human standards.

Uri-chan's vines would dig trenches that the snow-white Mansaku would bound into and lay their seeds. The Mansaku were beautiful, by the standards of followers and Tsukune himself. They were like fairies that danced in the ice and constant falling snows. On their backs were the most beautifully colored leaves that were like the wings of butterflies, and their long tails would curl like a chameleon's behind them. Their bodies were a soft yellow-red, but their arms and legs were a striking shade of red. It was said that in the center portion of Hokkaido, near Sounkyo, it is said that a white Mansaku could be seen crawling along the mountainous cliffs of the Daisetsu-zan Volcanic Area, the only place of warmth left on the island, and the home of the last remaining human-youkai population there. The girls would giggle as their cold blistered cheeks would brush against Tsukune's arms, his hands pocketed in his white pants. His cloak could be seen hanging from the lowest edge of his white coat, his one and only precious material possession.

The pod of mermaid could not follow the werewolf and human into Hokkaido. The sea was far too cold for the Nelum and they to cross. They would stay behind and bid the pair good luck. Gin knew this was his only chance. He had not seen Hokuto along the way, but he was sure he was close. The underground path was only open to Athens, and he knew well not to blow his cover. He needed to get close to this kami, and though he felt as if he was using Kyouko, he truly was not. She followed her belief and he followed his duty. He did not lie when he promised he would follow her so she could see who the kami really was: was it her cousin, whom she loved with all her heart, or was it a monster that everyone feared?

The only way to Hokkaido would be to take ferry across on boats owned by the kami's followers. The ferries were made of old parts of ships, boats and cars and would struggle through the thick ice flows that hovered around the outer perimeter of the island. Hokuto was always following his kami and walked but a day behind his lord. Gin and Kyouko were now behind two days.

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**(A/N: Beta'd by GrrDraxin)**


	12. My Wonderful Winter Wasteland

**Chapter 12: My Wonderful Winter Wasteland**

Uri-chan rooted himself in the cold grounds. His howls tore through the air, causing the winds to bellow in return. Moka and Kurumu sat perched under the curled roots of the demon plant. Tsukune stood with his arms crossed over his chest. The white demon beasts known as Mansaku roamed about the snow covered grounds, often vanishing behind the white walls of snow and ice. Ruby sat with Akuma asleep on her lap, rubbing his back as he napped. A small fire crackled beneath the base in which they made their small camp. Karasuuri's roots acted like a roof for the small family. They watched the snow as if it were the wondrous sight of spring, but who could deny them the pleasant company of their love? However corrupt it was.

"Onii-sama." Moka called up to Tsukune. She and Kurumu looked about his age now, their growth rate had been sped up by their plant-like attributes so that they may stand to equal, if not further maturity, so they could breed. Nothing else would mean as much to them. It was what they sought since their former life, and now that need rung with a violent urge.

The former vampire pulled her silver hair back behind her ear so she could better turn her ruby eyes into those of her precious Tsukune, who turned his head curiously. The male's cheeks were blistered red by the cold, but he had grown used to the temperature considering the drop since the first October. "Yes?" He would respond with a nervous chuckle, something he had earned from a former lifetime. Kurumu peeked up from under her blue bangs, the former succubus crouched in front of the fire, her purple tail swaying to and fro, pleased just being near Tsukune.

Moka walked over to Tsukune, a passing glanced was shared between her and Ruby. By all accounts they should not have remembered anything of their past, but something inside of them buzzed about their instincts. It told them to be wary and only trust Tsukune. Ruby lowered her eyes, knowing her place and lifted the sleeping Akuma onto her chest. The infant whined. Moka, feeling that her rage was rather unnecessary, after all this woman cared for her master's child, calmed. Even if Ruby had given birth to the child, it was Tsukune's blood that ran through Akuma, and it was her precious Kuma-tan, whom she could not bring herself to hate, even if it was not _her_ young.

Moka wrapped her arms around Tsukune. If the young man blushed it was something that could not be seen under his already pink cheeks. The youkai looked up to him with affectionate, love-filled ruby eyes and brushed her cheek against his arm. Kurumu pouted and sighed. Ruby looked over to her. The blue-haired girl seemed a bit less aggressive than the silver-haired one. Ruby shuffled nervously and sat herself up. "K-kurumu-chan? What's wrong?" She would question.

Kurumu's violet eyes would turn up to the witch's darker ones. Her tail would obviously sway behind her, kicking up snow. Kurumu was sat crouched with her arms crossed over her knees. She solemnly lay her head in her arms and sighed. "Uri-chan, she's cold." The younger youkai would note. The witch twisted her brow in questioning thought. Uri was girl?

Kurumu nodded vigorously and giggled. "Yup!" She jumped to her feet and hopped over, her boots crunching into the wastes of the Hokkaido snowfield. She crouched down by Ruby and looked to the sleeping babe. He was kept warm and tended to dearly. The shrieks and howls of the hanabake did little to bother him, as he was much used to it from living within the bowels of the demon tree. Ruby shifted the infant for Kurumu to see him better.

"He looks so much like his father." The witch would sigh. She would regret so much. A choking feeling filled her chest. She began to softly sob. She had done so many things wrong. She had killed a young girl, she had thrown the life of an innocent boy into chaos. She had brought a life into a world in the throes of moral dissent. She knew not how to repent, accept to give in to the fate offered to her by any kami that would smite her. She was truly sorry, and could not express the pain she still held in her heart. Tsukune had changed, but she was unsure if it was for the better. She knew there was nothing she could do.

Moka and Kurumu were reborn for a purpose, and that purpose was to punish them. "Will you promise me something Kurumu-chan?" The bright eyed demon tilted her head slightly, blue bangs falling over her face. "Whatever happens, please take care of Kuma-tan. He has done nothing wrong, but needs to survive so that he may repair the damage, we have done to this world, and its people. Be they youkai, ayashi or human, no one deserves to live in constant fear." Ruby would beg.

Kurumu furrowed her brows, not sure what the older witch meant, but she nodded. She loved her little brother and did not want any harm to come to him, because he was Tsukune's son and would take care of them, when Tsukune was gone. After all, Tsukune was only human. They were lucky among their kind were they even able to live past the fiftieth year of their lifetime.

Tsukune looked down to Moka and tilted his head. She smirked and held his arm to her chest. "Our imouto is just beyond that forest, but Uri-chan is too cold to move right now." She explained. Tsukune nodded, but was still unsure as to what she meant, and it was obvious in his expression. The young man always displayed, upon his features, how he felt. He was an honest boy, but now suffered the silent insanity of a world hurled into a chaotic spin, fed by the fear and hatred produced within their own hearts.

Moka turned her eyes, the blood red gems scanning the line of forest, and glared hatefully. The Mansaku continued to rove, making it seem as if the forest was dancing. "There are those that seek to stop us." The former vampire easily able to feel terrible killing intent that emanated from the other-side of their current obstacle. "I will not allow harm to come to my family, but nor can I guarantee that no harm would come to them." She understood that Tsukune did not approve of murder for the sake of any reason, even if in self-defense, but Moka could not promise that her boiling instinct to protect the one she loved dearly would not be viciously fought for.

Tsukune softly smiled and shook his head. He warmly patted her head and sighed. "Do your best not to hurt others, because it would be wrong to greet your sister, when covered in the blood of others." He could not understand the need to kill. He would never, understand, the necessity to cause suffering to others. Moka knew he would never understand, so for him, she would kill and destroy anything that got in his way. It was much the same thinking Ruby had that year, but in the demon's case, she had nothing else to lose, because she no longer had a past to return to.

**o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o***

**(A/N: Beta'd by GrrDraxin)**


	13. Full Moon Lullaby

**Chapter 13: Full Moon Lullaby**

It wasn't long until Tsukune was on his way. Before he left he would turn to Ruby and warmly smile. "Please stay with Uri-chan and Kurumu-chan. If anything happened to any of you while I was away..." The faithful witch would do as her lover ordered, she would have bound herself to the roots of the demon plant were it his wish. The silver-haired demon would make it her priority to follow her precious Tsukune and take lead. Tsukune smiled and crunched forward through the snow. The demoness, the one of former vampiric nature, still held many powers and strengths of her kind, and to add to it she no longer held the inhibitions. The blue-haired demon bid her sister a safe journey and she would promise to watch over Kuma-tan and Ruby with Uri.

Moka ran alongside Tsukune, but would slowly speed up as she would suddenly drop to all fours and take the form of a massive silver-furred wolf beast. The thundering stomps would pace along side the human-kami as he rushed along side her. The thick, snow covered forests of Hokkaido were no object to the pair. Heavy steps, used to the wear of travel, would push through uneven ground and deep snow. The Mansaku would watch as they clung to the trees and would slither along the icy patches that sparsely littered the woods. Their eyes were upon the kami who was protected by the one which commanded them. Hisses would sound and shrills would indicate their acknowledgment of their place.

Soon Tsukune would break through the thick forests and find himself in an open field of pure, white snow. Beneath the blanket of ice lay the remnants of civilization, but it was but a memory that no one stood to beheld, for none were fool enough to cross the forests which were watched and guarded by the Mansaku. Many say that ghosts only dwelled upon the dead wastes and oft could the remnant forms of their icy specters be seen floating between the trees and deep into the lands. These frost covered revenants would enter the small pockets of villages outside of the forest and spirit them away across this impassable barrier of hanabake and ice.

Tsukune's breath was now visibly escaping his lungs as they struggled for air. It had been a long trek, several hours into the night. The full moon hung high overhead as they reached the edge of the Daisetsu-zan Volcano. He pulled himself ahead and up the hill of sleet. The massive silver wolf bounded her way to the top and stood there, waiting for her master to arrive. When Tsukune arrived at the top of the hill the vampire was once again in her humanoid form. Moka crossed her arms over her chest and glared at a certain spot down the hill. Her boots sunk against the snow covered hill as she sneered at the small dots of human-youkai habitation.

Tsukune followed her gaze and there he could see a large, white hanabake. It was a beautiful coloration. Along its arms and long tail were markings of a soft lavender which would fade to a crystalline blue as the markings would converge along the underside of its belly. Its body form looked similar to a Helian than a Mansaku. It had the same wing-like leaves upon its back, but instead of the beautiful colorations of the Mansaku, this one's wings were white with the same lavender and pale blue markings as its snow-white body. Tsukune would stand in awe as the form seemed sadly settled there.

It was like a lonely flower in a field of grass, but in this case it was snow. None of the Mansaku seemed to want to go near it, perhaps even feared it. Tsukune frowned, his heart opening to the plant demon's pain. "Moka..." He would murmur. The demoness would reach out and touch her master's face. Though she wanted nothing more than to wipe these worthless villages out and plant more seeds that would bring her precious Tsukune safety and happiness, doing so would only bring him pain.

"Please, we need our sister." She would whisper, her face drawing near to his, her only wish was to help him reach that pure nirvana, that pure happiness. She brushed her nose against her master's, begging for his cooperation, begging for his help. Tsukune nodded and smiled.

"Of course, I want us all to be together." He blinked when the demon pressed forward and pushed her lips against his. He pulled away, touched by the amorous affection, but he had his duty. He was to change this world, protect it. He had to save all those he could from the darkness that threatened to swallow everyone whole.

Perhaps it was the moon that filled him with fearlessness, as the darkness was banished by its powerful, foreboding presence. No matter as to what it was, the male slid down the icy hill toward the lonely hanabake, which sat curled within its own emptiness. Its wings were folded back against its body, tail swaying in the air copying the sways and howls of the passing winds.

Moka would slide down the icy hill behind her master and obsession. Tsukune would fearlessly walk toward the crumpled form of the hanabake as Moka would stand a bit aways and look around. Something was off. Tsukune would smile and pat the demon flower's head. Its large snout would press against his hand, the small red orbs it used to sense heat would scan the familiar male. A soft hiss would escape the beast's throat, but it would suddenly stand on all fours and spread its leafy appendages in a threatening display. Tsukune looked behind him to see that Moka too took a defensive stance and pulled her lips over her fangs to hiss.

From the curtain of darkness stepped two forms, of which the kami and his cohorts had never seen. The pair would come into the light of the moon. Both stood at a near equal height. One had bright red hair which was pulled back into two pigtails. Over her shoulder she carried a Bell-Hammer that looked far too large for someone of her size to carry. Around her shoulders she wore a light red shawl that matched her light pink skirt. She wore mittens over her hands that had strawberries sewn into them. Her boots were pink with white fluff and would keep the cold snow from her form. She wore strawberry red earmuffs and would glare at the kami with a familiar emerald gaze he could not quite place.

The second form had black hair, which was not as wavy as the first girl's. She had striking violet eyes and a dark, empty gaze that was filled with hate, a hate that would turn the kami's brows downward with worry. She too had her hair pulled back in pigtails. She wore a black cloak, her mantle tied by a sapphire brooch. She had a white shirt of a noble nature. Its sleeves were long and billowy, the cuffs frilled and decorated with matching cufflinks of gold. The woman clapped her hands together in an act of joy, the shift of emotion confusing the kami, but his cohorts knew well it was but a farce on the other's part.

"Aiya, to think that the information given to us was correct." The woman had a distinct accent. The other seemed to drop her guard at the familiar ruby eyes and silver hair.

"Onee-sa-!" But the older one placed her hand in the way. Her dark eyes would turn to the ruby-eyed mistress who violently hissed in their direction. The black-haired demon could instantly feel it. Though it looked like her sister, there was nothing left in there of her. Those cheerful eyes once again became dark at the hateful truth.

"I don't know what you are, kami or devil, but what you have done to my precious sister is unforgivable." The dark-haired woman would growl in her throat and Tsukune would back away, the white Mansaku and former vampire stepping in front of him to guard him.

Tsukune felt his heart sink. Though the woman was unaware of what exactly happened to her sister, Tsukune could only assume she knew _everything._ He was no murderer! It was...an accident! He had done everything in his power to repent, but this woman, was she telling him his fight against those dark sins were...useless? He sunk to his knees. Tears rushed to his eyes as the insanity he had been buried clawed its way to the surface. His hands pressed to his head, gripping the hood of his cloak.

Moka hissed out at the woman, the red head jumping back at the reaction. She knew this was her sister, Akuha-nee-san was crazy! But...but why was Moka protecting the human? "Onee-sama please! It's me! Kokoa! Onee-sama!" The younger vampire tried to appease as her older sister continued to block her path. The Mansaku hissed and shirked out, feeling the pain of its kami. The patterns upon its wing-like leaves began to drain and turn as white as its flesh, the snow around it kicked up.

Moka kicked forward, she would give these beasts no chance to touch her master. How dare they tread upon his nature and his open heart! He sacrificed everything to save this world and these traitorous fools dare claim otherwise? Akuha jumped out of the way before Moka's blow landed, Kokoa, in pure instinct, caught her sister's strike against the handle of her Hammer.

Two days from the main path Gin and Kyouko still traveled. Along he snow-covered trail they saw a man tending to those that followed the sacred road to Hokkaido. Word had reached many that the Nameless One had come to rest at the edge of the snow-forest of Hokkaido. The young prophet was clearly dressed for his travels and wore a thick wool cloak and his usual black attire.

"Come on Gin! We've already wasted too much time!" Kyouko laughed, feeling as if she was getting closer to finding out the truth, but Gin felt that the closer they got to the truth, the worse it would be with every passing day. It was a full moon, and would be for the next few days...

**o*o*o*o*o**o*o*o*o**

**(A/N: Beta'd by GrrDraxin)**


	14. For You I Give My Blood

**Chapter 14: For You I Give My Blood**

Gin and Kyouko made their way toward the prophet. Hokuto was an intimidating man and looked to the pair with a smile that brought into question his intentions. "Why it seems we've picked up a new set of followers. I've not heard your voices before, where have you traveled from?" The legitimate right-hand of kami would question.

Bless kyouko and her oblivious nature as she immediately struck up conversation with the the glasses bearing male. Gin felt the male just rub him the wrong. There was something about him. He wasn't insane. Most that followed the hanabake were nothing more than babbling heaps or psychotic cultists. This man had his head, leveled upon his shoulders. Gin sneered and held his head high. The male stood proudly and pocketed his hands.

"We're from Kamakura." The wolf proudly barked, smirking at his potential enemy. The lycan's features would fall when a cold, mocking chuckle would bubble from the prophets mouth. Gin could not help the growl that escaped his mouth. Kyouko sat crouched beside Hokuto and would tilt her head as she turned an ear to the soothing sound. She watched as Hokuto pushed to his feet, the male having been tending a sickly old man. Kyouko would follow and stand.

The dark-haired male would shake his head and turn to look to Gin, peering over the frame of his glasses. The well dressed servant of god would use his index finger and push his glasses up, a chilling reflection would catch against the frames, the full moon sparkling in his dark, hazel eyes. "My apologies for laughing." He would solemnly apologize, that smug grin never leaving his face. He bowed his head and reached out his hand to take Kyouko's hand into his. "My name is Kaneshiro Hokuto. I am the word of god." He would proudly smile, pressing his lips to Kyouko's hand and standing tall. He knew every word from his mouth was true.

Kyouko felt _wrong._ This man was not a good man. She found herself instinctively shuffling back and gripping against his sleeve. She turned her dark eyes toward the man. "So, you're the one that has been claiming she is the direct blood of kami himself?" Hokuto's voice was not one of reverence, in fact it was full of jealousy and hate.

Gin felt the killing intent as it bubbled from the prophet. Hokuto's laughs grew as he threw his head back and let loose his bellowing shouts to the air. He sighed and leaned forward, his arms dangling in the air, swaying with his shaky breathes. "Kami can have no _relatives_." Hokuto chuckled as he peered over his eyeglasses, body already beginning to shift and transform. Gin pulled his lips back and snarled as his face elongated into a muzzle. The lycan pushed Kyouko back and the girl knew better and ran down the road to hide. She slid toward the trees, the cold doing well to numb her fingers and toes. The heated exhales of the males were visible in the chilly air. Though they were a ways from where the Nameless One had come to rest, the cold carried down for miles.

"**Fools!**" The blood stained prophet roared as his body took its full, towering size. The ayashi's body was like that of a skeleton, an insect and everything else of predatory descent. His frame looked fragile, but the twists of sinewy muscle would indicate otherwise. The beast roared as his cape fell to the ground, tattered by his transformation. Hokuto snorted down at the small-by-comparison werewolf. Under the fool moon it would prove a challenge, but... "**Hmmm, shielding that woman? She will not reach kami. False blood lines must be eradicated! Kami is not of human blood!" **The ayashi charged toward the line of woods. The large, purple-furred werewolf would gasp as his eyes widen. Kyouko was their only hope! Gin turn and ran toward her, recalling what they spoke of as they traveled.

"_Don't be so pessimistic!" Kyouko had accused as she giggled, turning to walk backwards down the path, facing the male. "I grew up with Tsukki!" She proudly assured. "He could never hurt anyone! He's a natural born knight!" She wink and laughed. The black-haired woman turned and folded her arms behind her back. She shuffled along, looking up to the star lit sky. "But I can understand ya know?" Gin looked to her in question as she continued to stroll along._

_She never said anything bad of him, no ill words. She truly loved Tsukune. "I can see it in the way things are. Someone made Tsukki's wish come true." She would stop and turn to Gin. "He always believed in monsters... youkai. Spirits and ghosts. We think when he was little he could see them, see things we couldn't. Obasan was afraid and would cry about the strange things he would say. I think... Tsukki, being how he is, closed his heart and stopped being able to if only to protect obasan, but he would always tell me the spirits would tell him they were always so lonely now that humans ignored them." She would giggle into her hand. "He always wished we would all be together." She patted her hand on Gin's shoulder. "It was a heavy price, Tsukki's wish." _

_Her perspective made it easy to understand. It was not the Ouhana's goal that was evil, only his method. For centuries they all fought. For years they fought to separate their worlds. It took the Ouhana two years to tear down all their walls, protection, and foolish ideologies and bring them together. He was a god, but like all gods that overstepped their bounds and abused their people... he needed to fall, and would fall. He knew Kyouko's way of thinking could not die._

_It was too late for him. He hated the Ouhana. _

_Marin had died a few weeks after moving to the island with Sun-senpai. She had been infected with hanabake spores, and was too weak to be able to support them. When a man by the name of Kanade Kamiya. He was in search of a mate to create a stronger world. Sun-senpai had decided to go with him, now that she had nothing. Gin was with the Athens preparing for the final bout, but when Gin learned of it..._

_Sun was found dead, guarding a small shelter which held her clutch of eggs. Kamiya's corpse was found mutilated in a corner, his blood smeared the once sane and peaceful siren's lips. She had come to learn by a messenger that it had been Kamiya that had murdered Marin's husband, which had since weakened the woman's heart. They would later learn that messenger had been Hokuto, who was told by the will of the Ouhana. Sun died protecting her clutch from a hoard of hanabake that are said to have been Miruku, a small, worm-like hanabake that feed on other hanabake. Miruku are long, brightly colored and live underground near hanabake nests and ambush their fellow kin, cannibalizing rouge and other stray hana._

"GIN!" Kyouko shouted at the top of her lungs. The wolf, that crazy, perverted wolf! He had jumped in the way of Hokuto's scythe and... he had smirked at her. He smirked! The wolf was cut in half by the deadly scythe, his guts all but slid from his still hovering corpse as it fell. The eruption from him being cleaved would paint Kyouko's body with his blood.

It was past midnight and morning was near. The full moon left with the new day.

The woman had seen many things, many dead, many troubles, but never had she watched someone be killed. The woman sobbed and would feel the need to vomit, but she couldn't let Gin's sacrifice be in vain. She ran. She turned and rushed into the densely wooded forest. Hokuto roared and the ayashi would turn the face the direction the woman ran. He flicked one of his many scythes clean of the blood and snorted. "_**Woman!**_" He roared and pushed into the forest. He was too large to have an easy time about it, but he would not allow it! Samhain be damned! Kami was theirs and theirs alone! He would not share this responsibility!

Gin lay there, the last bit of his conscious life slipping away.

"_Bless Kyouko and her gentle nature..._" Was there truly a kami, and he truly Kyouko's blood, he would come to her rescue.

**o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o**

**(A/N: Beta'd by GrrDraxin)**


	15. My Master and Lord

**Chapter 15: My Master and Lord**

Damn that Hokuto! Moka had felt it, that foul beast had gone rouge. Through the will of kami, or what would be defined as hivemind, hanabake would communicate. It was an intricate system that had evolved as the nests grew larger. Samhain had become the hive queen because of her greater youki store. Had Ruby stayed in control of the demon plants she would have been killed and eaten by them long ago, for she already controls a set of Raven Familiars and another Familiar, even another pack was something the strong witch could not handle. She had not known then what she knew now, that she had done it all for him. She and Kurumu would slowly regain their consciousness in Samhain's body as days went by. They knew their duty and it was to their lord and master. He would be the only one they would bow their heads for, or raise their tails to.

With Akuma born that left she and Kurumu to give birth to his children with his seed. Moka had watched Hokuto. Kurumu had orchestrated the yoko's death when they would learn of someone that had blood which tasted of their master was alive. Hokuto tried to hide him in fear it would change their lord's position. She had forgiven it because she too would have perhaps acted, though perhaps the girls would have killed and consumed his flesh for their sustenance. Regardless, Hokuto had gone too far. Damn him! She wanted him to bring Kyouko to Hokkaido, was that too much to ask? Her master would only live one lifetime! They needed his seed and needed to take it, use it, pass it as much as they could. That witch had already bore their precious Kuma, that would only leave them and that girl who shared his blood. If Kyouko could give birth to a boy, they could mate it, and were it a female, Kuma could easily.

Moka's thoughts would reveal themselves in a growl. She reached out and wrapped her fingers easily around Kokoa's collar as she grabbed the Weapon Familiar by its handle. "O-onee-sama..." Kokoa gagged. Moka sneered at such fond sentiment only Kurumu was allowed. How dare this non-believer speak to her so familiarly! How dare she raise a hand against her master, her lord. She gripped tightly to the Weapon familiar and tossed the smaller vampire into the air. Without a second thought the hammer shaped familiar was used to slam the red-head into the snow with a crunch.

Akuha was having trouble landing any blows on the Mansaku. It was fast and it seemed to have advanced control of the environment. Its wings would strobe with whites, blues and pale lavenders as it danced around the vampire's palm strikes. Akuha's hands could cut through steel, even phase through solid objects, her body too could turn the tide of battle by merely evading, but neither could she land a blow on the Mansaku, nor could it attack her. It seemed the cold air would strike her skin, leaving behind red rashes.

Why was she even bothering with such a trite and trifling opponent? Her goal was to assassinate the kami. Her purple, almost quartz colored eyes would glance in the kami's direction. He stood there in the snow, tears in his eyes as he merely watched the combat. How dare this beast take pity on them! How dare he warp his sister's mind and destroy her soul! Akuha's rage would peak and she charged the kami.

Moka had dropped to her knees, straddling Kokoa. She would punch and beat the young vampire black and blue. Blood was splattered on the silver-haired demon's cheek, not a drop her own. The young woman was unconscious at this point, but the former hanabake and vampire continued to beat her fists into the girl's flesh, her fists cutting from the force. She was not used to having such easily broken flesh and it would take some getting used to. The silver-haired demon would pause and look up. She felt the hairs stand up on the back of her neck as she hissed. She saw Akuha crossing the Mansaku and heading right toward Tsukune.

The demon pushed off her prey and whipped her form around. As she ran toward the black-haired vampire she would twist and reform her body as it once again took a new shape. Razor sharp spikes would protrude from her back as her body would plate itself in armor. She looked much like a giant Pangolin, but with silver plates and blood-red skin.

Tsukune looked up to Akuha and smiled. He would accept her punishment, if it would mean being forgiven. The vampire yelled a horrid sound, her throat rasping as she stabbed her hand through his shoulder. _I'm sorry._ Left his lips as she pulled her hand back and severed his arm from his body. Akuha's eyes filled with tears as she choked out a sob.

"It...that isn't fair." Akuha complained. How could he take her kill like that? How could he be so honestly remorseful? The Mansaku hissed, but would pause and perk its head at the commanding hisses from the transformed Moka. It would slither out of the way as Akuha stood there, momentarily stunned. The Mansaku slithered through the snow as if was but second nature for it and toward the unconscious, beaten vampire. At her side sat her loyal pet bat who cried for its master's state of being.

When the small bat familiar would look up, it could only shriek as the plant demon snapped its jaws around it and swallowed him whole. It than set its eyes upon the vampire. The white Mansaku would press its large foreclaw against the vampire's chest and dig its claws into her flesh. The plant would than curl its neck back and snap at the body, sinking its mighty fangs into the belly of its traded prey.

Akuha shouted when she was tackled into the snow. Tsukune made not a sound as he fell to his knees, blood spilling and turning the pure white grounds into a sea of red. The transformed, armored demon, would circle her master and nose her snout against his face. She circled Tsukune frantically and would spread the spikes along its spine in offense. How dare that _bitch_ dishonor her master! Moka would charge and return to her humanoid state. Akuha pushed herself into a sitting position. She had never felt such power before, it was like a memory from a far off dream.

When she looked up she saw the full grown image of what was formerly her baby sister colliding toward her. It was only yesterday did she watch her sister laugh and they spent the nights cuddled together with their sisters. Akuha couldn't do it. She could not kill her sister. How could she have been so selfish? Of course she wanted it all from Moka, but hearing that her father intended to kill her, she would not allow it. She would kill Moka with her own hands, but- she loved her sister.

And she could see it in the kami's eyes as well.

Akuha smiled and would accept it, if it was her baby sister, she would accept it. "Forgive me Moka... for I -" Akuha's words would not be offered as Moka would embrace her and sink her fangs into her former sibling's neck. The red-eyed demon hissed, the sounds gurgling with the excess of blood that poured from Akuha's wound. Moka began to pull back and ripped Akuha's throat from its proper place. The Mansaku ate from its still living corpse while Moka wiped the blood from her mouth, rushing to Tsukune's side.

"No! Please!" Moka felt as Tsukune fell against her body. The cold kept the pain to a minimum, but he was losing a lot of blood. "Worthless hana!" She shouted in anger. "Come carry him to shelter before I regret my decision!" She was the obvious authority. The Mansaku, whose lips were stained with blood, turned and sauntered toward the hive queen, leaving Kokoa to bleed out. The white Mansaku laid itself on its belly as Moka would pull Tsukune on its back. The kami would exhale, but never utter a grievance which he clearly deserved to cry.

As the hanabake and mistress walked away with their kami a shadow came over to the writhing form of Kokoa who was still mostly alive. Kokoa's emerald eyes were filled with tears as she tried to rasp out and beg for help, mercy... death. Several figures stepped from their _homes_ that were hidden within the wastelands of Hokkaido. Akuha was too still alive, but barely. The vampires were taken from the cold ground by the figures and carried away.

The Mansaku would carry its mistress' master to its nest which was a fallen canopy of trees that created a cavern like structure among the Hokkaido forests. It would lay its belly to the ground to allow its mistress to pull their master onto the bed of leaves. The sentient demon would place her hand on her master's chest. He was pale, the kami had lost a lot of blood. She would pull her lips over her fangs and growl. "Do your duty!" She ordered the hana. She was no longer in her hanabake form so she could not use her flesh to heal him as she once did.

The Mansaku turned its head toward Moka a moment, but than stalked toward the male. It would shake out its body and fold its wing-like leaves upon its back. Its underbelly would split and two tendrils would curl out. These vine like appendages would curl and twist toward the Ouhana's shoulder and slowly mend the wound. Moka pulled her hair behind her ears and listened to his heartbeat. He was fine, but it would take the rest of the night for him to recover. She turned her eyes to the Mansaku, the white divinity of the Hokkaido wastes. It hissed out, its throat shaking. Moka frowned and reached out her hand. The white Mansaku leaned forward and pressed its snout to her palm.

"I did not mean to call you worthless, I need you..." She would admit and look to her master. "When he is well you give your gift to him and I will keep my promise." She smiled warmly and hugged the beast's head. "You are our sister after all...Mizore-chan."


	16. Squalling Hatred

**Chapter 16: Squalling Hatred**

Ruby sat with her legs under her, gently rocking Akuma, who seemed rather finicky tonight. The witch would have assumed it was the chilly night airs of Hokkaido that blew in from the north, but it was something else. The hanabake that resided in the area would cry into the skies and unsettle those residing within Karasuuri. Kurumu sat across from Ruby, only a few feet from the witch. She was crouched over the snow, innocently brushing about the snow. The witch knew the child was anything but innocent. She may have had the body she had once had, but the blue-haired demon was nothing more than a newborn beast that followed the first thing it saw on birth. It was likely that the demon-girls had imprinted on Tsukune from their former lives.

The witch had Familiars of her own. She could sense the basic instinct that flowed through the girls. They had no moral regulations, save for the ones instilled in them by their master, and little had Tsukune done to burn a true fear into them, for it was fear that kept most creatures from crossing certain boundaries. These demons had nothing to fear because their master was a god. They were animals without training or anything to leash them but their infatuation and pure loyalty to their master.

Even loyal dogs kill to protect the ones they love.

The witch all but jumped from her skin when a grinding killing intent brushed against her chest. For a moment it felt as if she had been punched and she would squeeze her eyes closed in fear. Had her mere thoughts invoked a defensive instinct in the beast? Kurumu's elfin-tipped ears would twitch against the cold, the edges of the forms pink from exposure. "K...kurumu-chan?" the witch nervously called, trying to act the voice of reason. Yes, it was true the other hanabake seemed on edge, but for Kurumu to suddenly become in-tuned with such an aggressive stance...

The young demon pushed to her feet. Though she had the body of a maturing teenager, she was barely passed two weeks of age. Her white dress, which was a perfect match to her egg-born sibling, danced in the cold night air. Kurumu's mouth parted, her small fangs bore to the wind as her violet eyes glittered with despair. "O..onii-sama..." She whined. Ruby was now worried. The girls only concerned themselves with two things, and Tsukune's safety was one of them. Together the girls controlled the hive, this much Ruby was now aware of, but with them parted it left the control over the hanabake in question.

Akuma began fidget and whine. He could feel his sister's rage and it made his tummy hurt. Ruby pushed to her feet, holding her son against her body to shield him from the youki. "Kurumu-chan." Ruby had to keep her calm, or else the hanabake would rampage. "You're scaring Akuma...please calm down." Something must have happened to Tsukune that upset their control, but she had to keep them calm. Were Tsukune dead they would be more than just _upset_. Kurumu rubbed her eyes and looked to Ruby, nodding. The demon shuffled toward the witch and hugged her, something which made the raven-controlling border being _extremely_ uncomfortable. Kurumu reached out and lovingly stroked Akuma's head.

"Gomen Kuma-tan." She apologized and sniffled. The dark eyed boy blinked his squinted eyes and turned his head up toward the gentle touch and somewhat familiar sound. The infant calmed some and cooed. He reached out in spastic motions, in an attempt to grab the hand and pull it toward him, but he was not yet in full control of his functions and flailed about, bursting out in laughter and he kicked his arms and legs. Ruby sighed, glad the demon had calmed some. She only hoped that that silver-haired beast, a former vampire, would stand her mettle against anything that would dare stand against Tsukune's good will. Was it so much to ask for a world that got along and did not war amongst themselves?

**o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o**

The scythe covered ayashi tore the forest to pieces. Hanabake that occupied these vast landscapes, which were only just newly regrown, would shriek and scatter from the berserk prophet who was once the gem of kami's eye, but in truth god cared not for the boy.

He was Samhain's plaything.

He would prostate himself before Tsukune as he sat upon his throne of veritable thorns and speak of Tsukune's greatness. The kami saw not this greatness within himself, so only heard empty offerings from the ayashi male. He was there to please Samhain's need to speak, but no longer did she need him to speak for her. Hokuto could not see the blank, uncaring gaze in kami's eyes, for he sat upon seats in the clouds. Samhain told him, it did not matter for he had the hive.

Hokuto had become obsessed.

He wanted nothing more than to be part of the hive, but ever the worker bee, never the queen! He would spend his nights praying to Karasuuri, to him a nameless form that the other plant demons were able to speak to, enter. It was a haven he could not have. And here does one appear claiming to be the blood of god himself! God was to be praised and worshiped for he was a holy creature that hast never stepped foot upon the earth, so he would have no kin...

"_**Biiiiiitch! Come before me and meet your death!"**_ His voice would shrill as he roared out across the trails that were quickly swallowed by snow. Kyouko sat crouched beneath a stone's outcropping. The snow revealed the place in which she fled, but what could she do? Where could she run? Kyouko could still smell Gin's blood, the strong smell permeated her mind. Was this perhaps something she would suffer for her arrogance?

"Hokuto-sama! We've found her!" A voice called from up the path. Kyouko squeezed her eyes tight and sunk her face between her knees, her legs having been pressed to her chest.

...but that death she was waiting for never came.

The ayashi's steps would turn away and climb its way back up the path where a multitude of prints led toward Hokkaido. The road was a well traveled pilgrimage path so was always littered with footprints. Down at the edge of the path, where the sea met the earth the pod of mermaids floated about with the Nelum. Hokuto knew were they against kami the Nelum would have buried them at the bottom of the sea.

"_**Where?"**_He would demand. Tamao swam toward the bank and pointed down the path.

"She fled under he cover of the fleeing hanabake Hokuto-sama!" Tamao assured. Hokuto snarled and charged down the road toward the center of Hokkaido.

Moments later Kyouko climbed onto the road. The hanabake circled about and looked toward the direction Hokuto fled. What had happened? Kyouko was used to the presence of the hanabake so did not seem at all afraid, knowing well these were not the carnivorous beasts of the first days. Kyouko looked to Tamao, her chest still heaving from the rush of adrenaline.

"Why...?" Weren't all the followers of kami like that guy: out to get anyone who did not believe, did not submit? Kyouko would walk across the road and slide down the edge. The morning had come and gone, and she was left with a deep exhaustion so slumped down when she made it to the bank, her heart finally slowing, calming. Tamao smiled and reached her hand out of the water. Kyouko reached over and felt the cold, wet hand cover her warmer one.

"Don't be a stupid girl." The mermaid leader would offer. "Kami would never want someone to die for the sake of something so petty." The mermaid positively offered. "Sleep for now girl, we'll call our kin to protect you." The gentle tone soothed the exhausted human as she fell to sleep. The hanabake from the forest, a small group of Mansaku, sauntered down and curled about the girl to keep her form protected from the cold.

Hokuto would continue his rampage deep into the night and early into the day toward Hokkaido, toward the spot where Karasuuri slept...

**o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o**

**(A/N: Beta'd by GrrDraxin)**


	17. The End of Golden Week

**Chapter 17: The End of Golden Week**

My emperor, my lord, my king. There were no others more important than him, yet there he lay losing mass amounts of blood, the Mansaku's tendrils unable to work faster. It took several days to heal him. In that time, under the constant eye of the demon reborn of her master's seed, would instruct the Mansaku to work. They would feed him by having the white hanabake use its long labellum which typically sits curled in its mouth. The white hanabake was the last form of demon plant that had evolved from Helian, formerly man eaters. They would develop various mouthparts to change their diet and allow them to feed in the new environments that now lacked seemingly infinite stores of human prey. The surface of the long, tube-like structure was sticky and covered in her stomach's digestive juices. Unlike animal stomachs, the plants would store food in sacks in their abdomens which would rot and allow them nutrients from the decomposition, much like a fungus.

The Mansaku would twist the fleshy tube down the human's throat. It was long, and would wind down his esophagus until it entered his stomach. Precious, predigested food would be dumped into his belly, keeping him well in all those days. Things had calmed. He was alive, a bit weak, but alive. His blood had restored itself thanks to their care. His eyes finally opened, but would be pained by the exposure to the burning white light of the snow covered lands. Tsukune lay on his back, facing the entrance of the makeshift nest. His body was weak from lack of use, but he felt nothing broken or otherwise bruised. He looked around, trying to gain his bearings, only to slowly recall what had happened. His first worry was Ruby and his son.

"Is Ruby well? Akuma...?" His throat was dry, raspy from disuse. He felt someone shuffle up beside him, it was Moka. He turned his head to her and felt the touch of her ruby eyes upon his form. She bowed her head and brushed it against the underside of his chin.

"They are well master, Kurumu cares for them." The demoness offered. The white plant demon laid curled around the male, its body being used to support his. Tsukune smiled warmly and reached out to gently pat Moka's head, but his arm fell short. He chuckled nervously and sighed.

"I'm sorry..." He always felt so weak. It seems he has burdened those around him more as of late than he ever has. Moka felt her brows downturn at the scent of disappointment from the male. The former vampire took his hand into her own and kissed it. She whined and brushed her cheek against his palm.

"No, you've done nothing wrong!" Moka assured and licked at the male's hand like a dog would when they would seek the forgiveness from their alpha, their kin. Tsukune groaned softly, feeling the Mansaku move from her spot. He felt the way she slithered out from under him. He would watch from the corner of his eye as the plant demon moved to stand behind Moka, her expressionless face staring in Tsukune's direction. After all one needed a human form to create expression, and it was why Moka and Kurumu wanted a human form. They could not smile like Ruby, they could not laugh. The former plant demon would easily deduce that when Ruby smiled, Tsukune too would offer a smile and his joy. They wanted to experience this. Now they had a new sister. With Moka and Kurumu's power growing they needed a stronger family. The bigger the hives grew, the farther their influence spread, the more they needed to control it.

Tsukune needed to fight his loneliness, truly believing his family was gone, so Samhain made more hanabake. Tsukune hated violence, so the hanabake evolved at his will. Samhain made sure they would no longer kill the innocent Tsukune cared so much for. Tsukune wanted everyone to get along, so Hokuto was recruited to speak well of her master and spread his ideals of peace and brotherhood. Tsukune now wanted, and silently prayed, for the world to stay at peace forever, but he would not live forever, so they would breed with their master and make sure his blood lasts forever, but there were few that were loyal to their master, and those that were true of their subservience to him would be allowed to breed, but their Mansaku sister cannot breed with a human, so she must be given a proper form that will carry his offspring safely and ensure the greatest yield of strong young.

"Moka?" Tsukune would wonder as he felt her hands move down his body, only for her to take hold of his pants and carefully undo them with her nimble fingers. Having fingers that could grip were wondrous.

She turned her head up and looked into her master's eyes. "Please... let me? We need your seed to help our sister be as we are." Moka looked back at the Mansaku who seemed to have no emotions, but have a conscious obsession with the human. Moka had to quell it violently a number of times as Tsukune slept for the white plant oft tried to eat him so he would be part of her forever. Tsukune frowned. So was that the gist of what had turned them back? He... he as able to help them, truly?

Tsukune smiled and nodded. Some of his strength was coming back now that he was up and flexing his muscles a bit. "Of course I'll help you... my precious girls." It was hard to tell if the male meant Ruby, Kurumu and Moka specifically or he generalized the hanabake species as a whole.

The demon plant, perhaps in a former life, would have felt a shiver at the response, but in the stead her heart was filled with the call of a pet to her master. He had regarded her lovingly and she was doing right by his eyes! "Oh master..." She would sigh and undo the fly on his white pants, which have since been stained by the earth he slept upon.

Back at Karasuuri Ruby and Kurumu had made their way to the throne that sat atop the demonic tree. It had begun to move, more so slither, along the snowy lands. Its array of tentacle-like roots would curl, twist and grab and they pulled along the land. The vines carrying the orange glowing orbs would be reached out to light certain sections of the ground below where hanabake seemed to run along and hiss. They were out for blood. In the snowy wastes of Hokkaido these ghosts that took men and youkai alike into their homes were known enemies to their master, but they oft stayed at peace in their lands, so they were not bothered for it was against Tsukune's will, but now they harbored two beasts guilty of harming their lord and it would not be stood for.

Ruby settled herself on the throne with Akuma in her arms. The infant had since fallen asleep. Ruby looked with worry, but she knew that without Tsukune the hive could not exist. She was not stupid, she was merely afraid for his life. Without Tsukune there could be no hive for they would have since been destroyed by their senseless need to _kill_. If not for Samhain...Kurumu and Moka, the world would have long been wiped of any sentient lifeform... They had been searching for these harborers of evildoers for a time now, but she knew the hanabake would find them. There were many of them, and few of anyone else. They would follow the winds as they have for two years now, and kill anything that got in their way.

The witch would be sure to keep Tsukune off their path.

Back in the Mansaku's den Moka had gotten to work in preparing her master. She had opened his pants to reveal his serving masculinity. It served mankind and she would soon be ripe to breed with her lord, but she would have to keep him safe along with Kurumu and soon the Mansaku. The former vampire's fang-filled mouth would descend upon the male's sensitive organ and she would willfully prepare him to deposit his seed in the plant's abdomen, nothing more. It was an act of duty and not one of love and affection. She had to get this one prepared for the future, or they would die out, of this Moka was assured.

The Mansaku would watch and hiss. It had never had _be_ pollinated before. To the demon plant it seemed like a dangerous prospect to directly touch the male's stamen. Moka would slowly lean away from Tsukune, being sure to leave proper lubrication behind. She would stand and walk behind to Mansaku and hiss commandingly. The demonic flower would stalk forward, body hunched in seeming fear, but it was defensiveness. It crawled and slithered until it stood over the male's body. He was red-faced and panting. The demon plant was sure it was a sign of threat!

Moka grabbed the white flower's tail and yanked it up, being sure it recognized its place. It would silence its hisses and lay its claws on either side of Tsukune's head. It would flinch when Tsukune grabbed her wrists and raised his knees, spreading his legs. His hips would thrust upward gently when he felt Moka's hand rubbing against him encouragingly. The silver-haired demon would release Tsukune and reach that hand between the plant demon's hind legs from behind. The hive queen would part the petals that marked the opening at the end of the Mansaku's abdomen. She pushed the plant's hindquarters down until it speared itself on Tsukune.

The white plant hissed and spread its wing-like leaves in distaste. It was a strange feeling being penetrated by a stamen, when she had never before done so. She had only ever seeded others, never taken seed for herself. Moka would pull her tail and eventually set a pace for the plant to follow. After a moment the Mansaku got the idea and continued without the sentient demon's instruction. Tsukune thrust his hips up to meet the demon's actions. His hands would release her wrists and set themselves on its hips so he could push himself deeper into her so the plant would fully take his seed.

The Mansaku hissed and went to snap Tsukune's head off but its muzzle was stopped and snapped closed by the silver-haired demon's hands. Moka glared at her with ruby eyes. She would accept his seed, or lose her head. It had been a one-sided choice, if a choice at all. The leaves folded down against her back. They were mere decoration, used for intimidation, unlike the wings of the former Samhain she could not fly with them. The demon plant would hiss in its throat at the strange feeling. The male's strokes drew more deeply and would force into her stigma. It would feel as her ovary was filled and her ovule soaked, which would later become the fertilized seed. The Mansaku's mouthparts had been released by Moka and it was allowed to open its jaws to pant out the buildup of oxygen in its system, strings of gleaning green ooze dripping from its jaws.

Moka knelt down by Tsukune's side and reached her hands out to hold his face. She smiled and her heart would swell with acceptance when he smiled back. She licked his cheek and nuzzled his face with her own. "Don't worry master. Kurumu will send for us. Just rest." She offered and curled herself at his side. The Mansaku would pull itself free from the male and instinctively seal her abdomen's petal's closed to keep the seed offered to her. The white plant would circle to make sure there was no danger in her small nest, before it curled up and folded its leaves around her body to rest for the night.

_**Dissent of Disciple: END**_

**o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o**

"_Your kisses are so sweet, may I have another?" "Okay!" The sounds of giggling were heard as they slept in the warm summer sun. The grasses had grown and the hustle and bustle of life was apparent as all walks of life worked their daily chores. Before them slept angels that protected them from the dark dangers of the world around them._

_It had come like a storm and filled their lives with dread. How did it happen? Why? Had they brought it upon themselves for not believing in the gods?_

_**Perishable Wings: Fables of the Kaou**_

**o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o**

**(A/N: Beta'd by GrrDraxin. **

**Golden Week: Ends Aprial 29, on Showa Day, a holiday celebrating a Japanese King (Showa...) **

**That's the end, for now! See ya'll later! Til Next Update~!)**


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